i  OXS1DEB ATIONS 


ON   THE 


GBJE AT  WESTERN"  CANAL, 


TUB 


HUDSON  TO  LAKE  ERIE 


WITH    A    VIEW    OF  ITS 


30JPENCE,  ADVANTAGES,  AND  PROGRESS. 


Second  Edition.  - 


PUBLISHED    BY    ORDEK    OF   THE 


\EW-YORK  CORRESPONDING  ASSOCIATION, 

ron  rprf,  FtiotioTiox  OF 


a»OONER  &T  WORTHIXGTOX,  PKINTER*,  BROOKLYN*. 

1818. 


• 


AV  presenting  to  the  public  the  following  Considerations 
on  the  Western  and  Northern  Canals.  1  return  my  thanks 
to  those  gentlemen  in  the  western  part  of  the  State*  who  hare 
aided  me  in  my  work,  by  the  communication  of  some  impor- 
tant facts.  It  is  hoped,  that  A  VIEW  OF  THE  RE- 
SOURCES OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW-YORK*  will  be 
presented  to  the  Nation,  in  the  course  of  a  feiv  months,  un- 
der the  patronage  of  the  New- Fork  Corresponding  Associa- 
tion. Through  this  channel,  an  appeal  is  now  made  to  a 
liberal  and  enlightened  community,  for  every  detail  and  every 
species  of  information,  which  may  tend  to  the  accomplishment 
of  this  object.  Communications  addressed  to  the  subscriber) 
or  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  for 
the  Association,  would  be  gratefully  received. 

CHARLES  G.  HALVES. 

JCnc-Fork,  October,  1818* 


THE 

New-  York  Corresponding  Association,, 

FOR  THE  PROMOTION  OF 

INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

•  :>  ^M«v:  *&  ? 

THIS  Association  has  for  its  object,  the  aequisilion  and 
diffusion  of  all  useful  intelligence,  connected  with  the  Inland 
trade  and  navigation  of  the  country.  Its  founders  have  in- 
dulged the  hope,  that  by  opening  an  extensive  correspon- 
dence. with  gentlemen  of  the  first  distinction,  throughout 
the  Union,  and  by  imbodying  and  sending  forth,  in  a  com- 
prehensive form,  the  information  which  might  be  thus  ac- 
quired, great  and  permanent  benefit  could  be  rendered  to  the 
American  people,  and  much  incitement  given  to  that  noble 
and  munificent  spirit  of  enterprize,  in  relation  to  Internal 
Improvements,  which  now  distinguishes  every  quarter  of  the 
United  States. 

OFFICERS  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION. 

I3E  WITT  CLINTON,   President. 
SAMUEL  L.  MITCHILL, 


SMUEL  L.  MITCHILL,  •}    v. 

CADWALLADER  I),  t  OLDEN,  J    ^  l 

Committee  of  Correspondence  and  Publication* 

THOMAS  EDDY,  Chairman. 

WILLIAM  BAYARD,  I      PIERRE  C.  VAX  WYCJ 

THEODORES  BAILBY,  JOHN  PINTARD, 

SYLVANUS  MILLER,  I      JAMES  L.  BELL, 

JAMES  TALLMADGE,  Jun.  JOHN  Me  KESSON, 

IlOBKRT    BOGAUDUS,  |         R.    J],    BoWNB. 

CHAULES  G.  HAINES,  Corresponding  Secretary. 
POST,  Jun.  Treasurer. 


CONSIDERATIONS 


OX    THE 


GREAT  WESTERN  CANAL,  &c. 


THE  interest  which  is  excited  throughout  this  country, 
and  in  the  minds  oi'  some  ot"  the  first  statesmen  and  puhlie 
characters  in  Europe,  in  relation  to  the  great  \vorks  of  in- 
land navigation,  which  are  now  vigorously  prosecuted  under 
the  patronage  of  the  XEW-YORK  STATE  GOVERNMENT,  ren- 
ders it  necessary  to  give  an  occasional  exposition  of  the  pro- 
gress and  success  of  our  vast  hut  practicable  undertakings. 

Like  all  great  projects,  embracing  in  their  scope  (he  pros- 
perity and  welfare  of  states  and  empires,  the  Grand  Canal 
from  the  Hudson  to  the  Lakes,  has  come  in  for  a  share  of 
obloquy  and  reprehension.  By  the  weak  and  timid,  it  has 
been  viewed  as  a  visionary  project  of  state  grandeur;  by  the 
base  and  designing,  it  has  been  denounced  as  an  attempt  at 
popularity.^  Experience  will  detect  the  error  and  criminali- 
ty of  both  imputations.  When  the  great  Colbert,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  celebrated  engineer,  M.  Riquet,  undertook  to 
connect  the  Mediterranean  sea  with  tfie  Atlantic  ocean,  by 
the  Canal  of  Languedoc,  to  aid  in  building  up  the  marine  of 
France,  and  to  fortify  an  independent  commercial  system  ;  his 
plan  was  viewed  by  many  with  astonishment  and  derision. 
Yet  docs  this  canal  stand  as  the  most  honorable  monument  of 
the  illustrious  reign  of  Louis  14th.  But  few  great  benefac- 
tors of  their  age,  have  received  the  immediate  tribute  of 
gratitude  and  applause  due  to  their  distinguished  services. 
It  is  time  that  consecrates  their  deeds,  as  immovable  land- 
marks in  the  historv  of  civilization. 


6 

I  : 
rftfeNAi,  NAVIGATION   will  hereafter  constitute  one   of 

5  primary  objects  of  our  state  and  national  policy.  Many 
inevitable  causes  have  heretofore  detracted  from  that  atten- 
tion which  is  at  all  times  due  to  its  magnitude  and  importance. 
We  are  yet  an  infant  nation.  When  we  emerged  from  the 
conflicts  of  the  revolution,  we  had  a  great  national  debt  to 
pay,  and  a  new  government  to  organize  and  sustain.  For- 
eign commerce  afforded  the  natural  and  ready  means  to  ac- 
complish these  ends,  and  it  was  pursued  with  success,  to  the 
exclusion  of  any  regular  system  of  internal  trade.  The 
tremendous  commotions  of  the  belligerent  world,  favored 
this  exclusive  policy,  until  the  flagrant  depredations  of  the 
European  powers,  and  the  war  which  they  produced,  sv.ept 
our  commerce  from  the  ocean.  Our  commercial  relations 
are  now  assuming  a  more  permanent  character,  and  we  shall 
gradually  extend  them  until  they  grasp  the  boundaries  of  the 
maritime  world,  by  the  bold  and  vigorous  application  of  our 
internal  resources./^ 

It  is  unnecessary  in  this  place,  to  dwell  with  much  detail 

on  the  vast  importance  of  an  extensive  and   vigorous  system 

importance  of  inland  trade.     It  is  amply  elucidated  by  almost  every  em- 

01  internal  .  .... 

Trade  and  ment  writer,  who  has  taken  up  his  pen  to  instruct  nations  in 
m<  their  commercial  pursuits.  «  The  home  trade,"  says  Vat- 
tel,=*  "  is  of  vast  use.  It  furnishes  all  the  citizens  with  the 
means  of  procuring  what  they  want,  as  either  necessary, 
useful  or  agreeable.  It  causes  a  circulation  of  money,  cre- 
ates industry,  animates  labor,  and  by  affording  subsistence  to 
a  great  number  of  subjects,  contributes  to  render  the  coun- 
try more  populous  and  flourishing.  In  fine,  this  commerce 
being  of  advantage  <o  the  nation,  it  is  obliged,  as  a  duty  to 
itself,  to  render  it  prosperous."  Adam  Smith  observes  in 
his  wealth  of  nations. f  «  That  good  roads  and  canals  and 
navigable  rivers,  by  diminishing  the  expense  of  carriage, 
put  the  remote  parts  of  the  country  more  nearly  upon  a 


*  Vide  p.  69,  Laws  Nations* 
t  Vol.  1,  p.  229, 


'7 

level  with  those  in  the  neighbourhood  of  large  towns  ;  and 
on  that  aceount  THEY  AHE  THE  GREATEST  OF  ALL  IM- 
PROVEMENTS." But  commercial  prosperity  is  not  the  only 
advantage  to  be  derived  from  such  means  to  promote  inter- 
nal trade  ^^Vhile  they  lead  to  national  happiness  and  na- 
tional strength,  they  cement  together  a  wide  spread  commu- 
nity, not  only  by  the  strong  tics  of  interest,  but  also  by  every 
social  tic  that  can  unite  an  enlightened  and  powerful  people. 
Who  that  has  glanced  his  eye  over  the  map  of  our  exten- 
sive country — Who  that  remembers  the  strong  local  features 
that  bear  the  everlasting  impress  of  nature's  own  hand,  but 
perceives  the  palpable  necessity  of  such  affinities  ?  Wash- 
ington, Franklin,  Jefferson,  Rittenhouse  and  Adams  saw  it* 
The  most  distinguished  statesmen  of  this  and  of  every  other 
country  now  see  it.  Our  mountains  must  be  politically  an- 
nihilated. Our  sectional  barriers  must  be  swept  away  by  a 
moral  arm,  whose  power  is  resistless.  Our  manners,  our  Advanta- 

.  .  ,.  .  .  gresoflnter- 

habits,  our  principles,  our  political  maxims  and  our  mostnai  Trade 
pervading  sympathies,  must  wear  an  aspect  that  is  settled,  ion.0" 
uniform  and  consistent.  Nothing  but  this,  can  perpetuate 
that  union  which  is  to  guarantee  our  future  national  greatness. 
Nothing  but  this,  can  preserve  those  popular  institutions 
which  are  sealed  with  our  fathers'  blood.  Nothing  but  this, 
can  carry  us  along  to  that  height  of  glory  which  breaks  upon 
our  gaze  through  the  vista  of  futurity,  and  beckens  us  to  its 
cloudless  summit.  Nay,  on  this  subject,  vre  can  almost  hear 
the  voice  of  distant  generations,  speaking  in  supplications 
loud  as  the  thunders  of  a  higher  w  orld^  But  let  us  quote 
the  opinions  of  men  whose  names  impart  a  consequence  to 
their  sentiments,  that  is  worthy  to  be  held  in  constant  re- 
membrance. The  Duke  of  SulJy,  the  celebrated  minister 
of  Henry  IV.  and  one  of  the  most  profound  men  whom 
France  ever  saw,  early  perceived  the  importance  of  a  vigo- 
rous policy  to  improve  the  internal  trade  of  his  country, 
He  observed  that  France  could  easily  draw  to  herself  the 
commerce  of  the  ocean  and  the  Mediterranean,  and  sec  them 


I 

in  the  middle  of  her  provinces,  by  a  canal  navigation.  We 
find  in  his  memoirs  the  following  judicious  remarks  :  "The 
joining  rivers  and  making  roads,  which  render  the  commu- 
nicating either  of  different  provinces,  or  different  parts  of 
the  same  provinre,  more  easy  and  commodious,  are  per- 
haps the  two  most  important  objects  to  which  a  wise  gov- 
ernment can  apply  its  attention  in  a  time  of  peace.  It  is 
necessary  that  there  should  be  some  principal  centre  for 
the  riches  of  the  nation  ;  but  nevertheless,  other 
cities  should  not  fall  a  sacrifice  %to  the  capital  ;  which 
being  in  the  body  politic  what  the  heart  is  to  the  human 
body,  constantly  receiving  the  Mood,  and  as  constantly  re- 
pelling it,  even  to  the  most  extreme  parts,  they  cannot  be 
deprived  of  it  without  bringing  languor  on  the  whole  ma- 
chine. Much  trouble  might  be  saved  in  studying  the  na- 
ture of  those  secret  springs,  which  give  motion  to  the 
most  minute  branches  of  commerce,  were  due  attention 
giv«n  to  that  simple  and  obvious  principle,  of  only  supply- 
ing the  country  people  with  the  means  of  living  in  ease  and 
plenty."*  But  let  us  come  home  to  our  own  statesmen, 
whose  remarks  may  more  immediately  apply  to  ourselves. 
We  shall  first  quote  the  words  of  Albert  Gallatin.  «  The 
inconvenience,  complaints,  and  perhaps  dangers,"  says  this 
able  politician  "  which  may  result  from  a  vast  extent  of 
territory,  can  no  otherwise  be  radically  removed,  or  preven- 
ted, than  by  opening  speedy  and  easy  communications 
through  all  its  parts.  Good  Roads  and  Canals,  will  shorten 
distances,  facilitate  commercial  and  personal  intercourse, 
and  unite,  by  a  still  more  intimate  community  of  interests, 
the  remote  sections  of  the  United  States.  No  other  single 
operation  within  the  power  of  government,  can  more  effect- 
ually tend  to  strengthen  and  perpetuate  that  Union  which 
secures  external  independence,  domestic  peace,  and  internal 
liberty."|  The  next  great  man  we  shall  quote  is  Joel  Bar- 

*Sully's  Mem.  Vol.  3,  p.  333. 

'I  Report  on  public  Roads  and  Canal?.,  1807. 


9 

He  observes,  (hat    "  Public  improvements,  such  as 
roads  anil  canals,  are  usually  considered   only  in  a  commer- 
cial and  economical  point  of  light  ;    but  they  ought  also  to 
be  reganled  in  a  moral  and  political  light.     The  means  to  be 
relied  on  to  hold  this  beneficent  union  together,    must  apply 
directly  to  the  interest  and  convenience  of  the  people.   They 
must  at  the  same  time  enable  them  to  discern  that  interest* 
and  be  sensible  of  that  convenience.     The   people   must  be- 
come habituated  to  enjoy  a  visible,  palpable  and  incontestible 
good  ;  greater  good  than  they  could  promise  themselves  by 
any  change.  —  They  must  have  information  enough  to  per- 
ceive it,  to  reason  upon  it,  to  know  why  they  enjoy  it,  from 
whence  it  flows,  how  it  was  attained,  how  it  is  to   be  preser- 
ved, and  how  it  may  be  lost."*     The  immortal  Fulton,   the 
second  Franklin  of  his  age,    has   remarked   \vilh  Ins   usual 
discrimination    and  intelligence,    «»  That  when  the  United 
States  shall  be  bound  together  by  Canals,  by  cheap  and  easy 
access   to  rmir'vet  in  all  directions,  by  a  sense  of  mutual  in- 
terests, arising   from  mutual  intercourse  and  mingled  com- 
merce, it  will  be  no  more  possible  to  split  them   into  inde- 
pendent and  separate  governments,  obliging   each  to  line  its 
own  frontiers  with  troops,  to  shackle  its  own    exports   and 
imports  to  and  from  the  neighboring  states,   than  it  is  possi- 
ble now  for  the  government  of  England  to  divide  and  form 
again  into  seven    kingdoms.     Here   is  a  certain  method  of 
securing  the  Union  of  the  States,  and  of  rendering  it  as  per- 
manent as  tbe  continent    v.e  inhabit,"!     With  these  prelim- 
inary remarks  and  illustrations,  we  shall  proceed    to  notice 
the  state  of  our  inland  navigation. 

No  one  need  enquire  what  are  the  advantages  of  the  state 
of  New-  York  for  Intern  J  Commerce.  The  map  of  our 
state  will  answer  the  question  and  put  curiosity  at  rest. 
Neither  do  we  want  ability  to  improve  these  advantages 


*  Address  to  the  Citizens  of  Washington  City, 

•  Letter  to  Mr.  Gnliatin,  Dec.   13,  1807. 

B 


10 

providence  has  planted  around  us.  A  state  whicH 
rests  her  borders,  upon  the  ocean  on  one  side,  and  on  the 
other  reposes  upon  the  greatest  chain  of  infernal  seas  upon 
the  face  of  the  globe,  diversified  by  interior  Lakes  and  trib- 
utary streams,  with  a  river  whose  tides  and  facilities  for 
navigation  can  scarcely  find  a  comparison  ;  a  state  that  con- 
tains a  more  extensive  soil  than  Portugal,  the  United  Neth- 
erlands, or  England  and  Wales  put  together  ;  a  state  that 
stands  in  the  heart  of  the  union,  and  could  now  sustain  the 
\vhole  population  of  the  American  Empire,  and  can  yearly 
pay  ten  or  twelve  millions  of  dollars  into  the  treasury  of  the 
nation,  without  inconvenience  ;  whose  splendid  commercial 
emporium,  catches  the  gaze  of  the  foreigner  as  though  it 
were  gilded  with  the  decorations  of  enchantment*  and  even 
now  has  a  tonnage  that  no  city  in  the  world  can  equal  but 
London  itself;  finally,  a  state,  that  presents  a  million  and  a 
half  of  wealthy,  intelligent,  enterprizing  and  high  minded 
republicans,  attached  to  the  union,  the  government  and  (he 
laws.-— We  say,  that  such  a  state,  does  present  no  common 
spectacle.  We  are  proud  in  its  contemplation— -we  execrate 
the  wretch  who  is  not  so.  We  arc  proud  too*  at  the  great 
and  salutary  end  to  which  these  resources  are  bent. 

The  people  of  this  state  early  perceived  the  benefits  of  In- 
ternal Trade,  and  previous  to  the  late  war  with  England, 
the  GRAND  CANAL  from  the  Hudson  to  Lake  Erie 
Avas  contemplated.  Such  an  undertaking  was  alone  suitable 
to  a  state  of  peace.  It  was  accordingly  postponed  to  that 
period,  when  more  favorable  auspices  should  await  its  pros- 
ecution. That  period  arrived,  when  DE  WITT  CLINTON 
was  unanimously  called  to  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  state. 
The  eyes  of  the  people  were  fixed  upon  him,  with  an  expect- 
ation that  the  Great  Western  Canal  would  be  vigorously 
prosecuted  to  its  final  completion.  The  work  will  be  pros- 
ccut(*I  and  triumphantly  finished. 

As  we  are  presenting  to  the  American  people,  some  view 
of  our  internal  improvements,  it  may  be  well  to  show  sonic- 


11 

thing  of  the  original  calculations  of  the  commissioners,  eon* 
cerning  the  Grand  Canal ;  to  take  a  slight  riew  of  its  ad- 
vantages  ;  and  give  a  correct  detail  of  its  state  and  progress 
the  present  season./ 

The  length  of  the  Canal,  from  the  Hudson  to  the  Lakes, 
is  calculated  at  three  hundred  and  fifty-three  miles,  accor- 
ding to  the  report  of  the  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
New- York  Legislature,  on  the  17th  April,  1816.  They  ob- si 
served  that  in  their  opinion,  "  the  dimensions  of  the  Western  canal™ 
or  Erie  Canal  and  Locks,  should  be  as  follows,  viz  :-~-width 
on  the  vater  surface,  forty  feet  ;  at  the  bottom,  twenty- 
eight  feet,  and  depth  of  water  four  feet;  the  length  of  a 
lock,  ninety  feet,  and  its  width,  twelve  feet  in  the  clear. 
Vessels  carrying  one  hundred  tons  may  navigate  a  canal  of 
this  size — and  all  the  lumber  produced  in  the  country,  and 
required  for  the  market,  may  be  transported  upon  it."  The 
aggregate  rise  and  fall  is  in  feet  661  35,  and  the  elevation 
of  Lake  Eric  above  the  Hudson,  is  calculated  to  be  in  feet 
5Gi  85. — The  number  of  locks  will  be  seventy-seven.  The 
canal  has  been  divided  into  three  great  sections.  The  west- 
ern section  reaches  from  Lake  Erie  to  Seneca  River  ;  the 
middle  section  leads  from  Seneca  River  to  Rome,  and  the 
eastern,  from  Rome  to  the  Hudson. 

The  average  expense  of  the  canal  per  mile,  is  estimated 
at  §13,800  ;  being  twelve  hundred  dollars  per  mile  less  than 
Mr.  Fulton  and  Mr.  Gallatin  assigned,  as  an  average  ex- 
pense for  each  mile  of  American  canal.*  The  whole  ex- 
pense of  the  great  western  canal,  is  calculated  at  g4,884,738. 
Should  it,  howrever,  proceed  in  a  route  south  of  what  is  cal- 
led the  mountain  ridge,  west  of  the  Genesce  River,  then 
there  will  be  a  deduction  in  the  expenditures,  which  leaves 
the  whole  estimated  cost,  as  made  by  the  commissioners,  a$ 
$4,571,813  00. 


*  Vide  Report  on  Canals,  1 807. 


These  statements  arc  taken  from  the  report  of  the  eamif 
commissioners,  made  to  the  New- York  Legislature,  Februa- 
ry dUS  1817.  They  hfive  antecedently  been  laid  before  the 
public  in  various  shapes  ;  but  we  again  submit  them,  after 
they  have  been  partially  tested.  The  last  report  which  has 
been  made  by  the  commissioners*  \vas  submitted  to  the  le- 
gislature on  the  31st  of  January,  1818,  and  to  which  we 
shall  more  particularly  refer  in  the  course  of  our  remarks. 
Tliis  report  only  confirms  the  correctness  of  all  ihose  which 
preceded  it,  and  only  proves,  that  the  estimates  were  ratliep 
too  high  than  too  low.  Sufficient  it  will  be  here  to  remark, 
that  from  experience  and  subsequent  observation,  the  Grand 
Canal  will  even  cost  less  than  the  commissioners  and  the 
state  government  have  calculated.  This  we  shall  prove  and 
illustrate. 

"We  will  now  advert  to  some  of  the  great  advantages  which 
must  result  to  the  slate  of  New-York,  to  the  western  coun- 
try, ami  to  the  nation  at  large  from  the  Grand  Western 
Canal, 

We  have  before  taken  a  view  of  the  principal  advantages 
that  must  result  to  our  union,  and  to  our  republican  institu- 
tions, by  attaching  the  various  sections  of  the  country  more 
immediately  together,  by  means  of  internal  communication. 
Our  Great  Canal,  in  this  respect,  will  produce  a  train  of  ex- 
clusive and  permanent  benefits,  which  could  not,  from  local 
causes,  pertain  to  any  similar  undertaking  within  the  scope 
of  ourselves,  or  of  the  nation.  "When  you  connect  the  Hud- 
son with  the  Lakes,  by  such  a  communication,  you  virtually 
place  the  Atlantic  seaboard  and  the  great  western  interior 
b.v  the  side  of  each  other.  From  the  ocean,  you  can  pass 
through  this  whole  chain  of  inland  seas,  navigable  to  ves- 
sels of  the  largest  burthen.  Nor  shoulf!  we  stop  here — New- 
York  and  New  Orleans  could  be  brought,  in  point  of  inter- 
course, near  each  other.  At  trifling  expense,  and  with  no 
great  effort  of  labour,  you  could  open  a  communication  by 
water,  through  which  a  vast  commerce  could  be  carried  on 


13 

from  Lake  Michigan  to  the  Illinois  River,   which 

into  the  >ii^  ..hove    St.  Lt.t:;?.  and   traverses  nearly 

the  whole  extent  of  Unit  rising  and   fertile  territory,   which 

will   -oon   be  uuinitfi-d    as  a  state  among  the  other  sisters 

of    the  union,*    Even    in    high  waters,  there    is    now    a 

navigation    for  small   crafl,     hel\\cen    the    waters    of    the    Conncx- 

lllinoi*  aiid    the   southern   extremity    of    Lake    Michigan  [JJj 

through  thenango  Creek.     The  Miami  of  Lake  Erie,  and 


the  tributary  streams  of  Lake  Michigan,  near  the  head  wa-the  . 
u  is  oi'  the  Illinois,  could  easily  he  united,  and  a  direct  ehan-  * 
nel  from  Lake  Erie  imo  the  Mississippi  thus  be  opened.  It 
n>av  iJso  be  observed,  that  the  sources  of  the  Miami  of  Lake 
Erie,  and  the  head  waters  of  the  \Vabash,  have  about  the 
same  level,  are  near  each  other,  and  could  easily  be  united 
without  encountering  the  least  obstruction.  By  this  means, 
a  communication  could  be  opened  with  the  Mississippi, 
through  one  of  the  most  charming  and  fertile  countries  that 
the  eve  of  man  has  ever  visited,  or  his  hands  ever  improved. 
Another  p::s«?aj;e  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Mississippi  could  be 
effected,  by  uniting  the  waters  of  the  Miami  of  Lake  Erie 
and  the  Miami  of  the  Ohio,  whose  waters,  at  the  sources, 
are  nearly  on  the  same  level.  That  some  of  these  channels 
will  &hortl\  be  opened,  no  rational  man  can  doubt,  \\lio  re* 
collects  the  character  of  that  population  who  inhabit  the 
country  tliev  will  enrich.  Three  of  her  great  canals  could 
easily  unite  the  Hudson  and  the  Ohio,  by  means  of  Lake 
f>ie.  First  —  by  means  of  the  Sandusky  and  Sciota  rivers, 
The  former  which  empties  into  the  Lake,  and  the  latter  into. 
the  Ohio,  have  their  waters  from  i!ie  same  svtamp.  Theiv 
junction  would  hardly  cost  an  effort.  The  second  would  be 
.'••>  uniting  the  Mr.skingum  and  the  Cayuga  Rivers.  The 
former  empties  into  the  Ohio,  one  hundred  and  seventy  miles 
below  Pittsburg,  and  the  latter  turns  its  waters  into  Lake 
Erie.  Six  miks  of  Canal  would  unite  them,  and  we  believe 

*  Illinois  is  already  admitted  by  act  of  Congress,  but  having 
only  40,000  people,  she  cannot  immediately  become  a  state. 


14 

that  a  company  now  actually  exists  to  execute  this  purpose* 
The  third  communication  would  be  between  Lake  Erie  and 
the  AHeghany  branch  of  the  Ohio.     There  are  two  ways  by 
which  this  object  could  be  effected  ;  the  first  by  joining  their 
waters  through  French  Creek,  which  would  want  about  six- 
teen miles  of  canal—  the  other,  through    Lake  Chetoughe  to 
the  Alleghany.     A  considerable  navigation  is  now  carried  on 
through  this  Lake.     The  people   on  the  borders  of  French 
Creek  arc  very  ardent  in  the  project  of  a  canal,  that  would 
unite  the  waters  of  the  Lakes  with  the  Ohio  at  Pittsburg, 
and  are  themselves  capable  of  doing  it,  in  a  single  season,  if 
they  are  endued  with  that  noble  enlerprize,  which  so  gener- 
ally distinguishes  their  western  brethren.     \That  systems  of 
internal  trade  and  navigation  may  yet  spring  from  the  com- 
pletion of  our  great  undertaking,  even  after  we  pass  the 
shores  of  Michigan,  is  left  for  future  entcrprize  and  future 
events  to  determine.     The  mighty  waters  beyond  this  Lake 
are  yet  to  be  brought  into  requisition,  for  the  great  purposes 
o£.  national  grandeur  and  individual  convenience.* 
,^'Pause  for  a  moment,  and  consider  the  mighty  population 
which  will  yet  cluster  on  the  shores  of  this  chain  of  Lakes 
and  the  unnumbered  streams  which  foil  their  tributary  boun- 
ties into  their  bosoms  J/5The  great  western  world  which  re- 
poses upon   their  wide-stretched  shores,  needs  no  description 
of  ours,  to  enhance  its  value  in  the  estimation  of  the  Amer- 
ican people,  /p.  will  yet  contain  a  population,  unequalled  by 
any  in  the  world   for  industry,  enterprize  and  independence  ; 
a  population  bound  together  by  ties  of  union  and  interest, 
created  and  fortified  bj  a  grand  system  of  internal  improve- 
of  vltieb  the  Great  \\fstein  Canal  nill  be  the  l»ul- 
the  animating  spectacle  here  presented  in  perspect- 
ive, we  see  a  great  republican  itii.iiuniu,  cemented  by  the 


*  On  the  ease  and  practicability  of  uniting  the  Lakes  with  the 
\Vrstr-jp  v.aters.  see  J'r.  Galiatin's  Report,  and  Beaujours  Trav- 
els in  the  United  States. 


15 

Wrongest  considerations  thaf  ever  influenced  a  political  bodV 
-•—assimilated  in  manners,  laws,  sentiments  and  maxims,  with 
their  eves  fixed  on  their  connexion  with  the  seaboard,  as  the 
life  and  support  of  their  prosperity  and  happiness.  Yes,  in 
this  noble  race  of  citizens,  we  see  the  cradle  of  liberty,  laws, 
and  the  arts  ;  we  see  the  hallowed  light  of  our  liberal  insti- 
tutions beaming  in  its  native  purity,  blended  witbjLtre  mild 
lustre  of  virtue,  magnanimity  and  intelligence.  s' 

In  a  commercial  point  of  view,  the  results  and  benefits  of 
the  Canal  cap^carcely   be  estimated,  at  this  early  stage    of 
our  history^jThe  first   advantage  to   be   derived  from  its 
cornpletioiff  is  a  national  one— the  diversion  of  a  growing  and 
importsmt  trade  from  Great  Britain  to  ourselves//  Mr.  We s- we 
ton,  the  celebrated  Engineer,  well  observed  in  s/letter  to  the  ^ 
Canal  Commissioners  some  years  ago,  <•  that  should  the  no-la*ge> 
ble  plan  of  uniting    Lake  Erie  with  the  Hudson  be  carried 
into  effect,  we  could  fear  no   rivalry,  and  the  commerce  of 
the    enormous   extent    of  country,  bordering  on  the  upper 
Lakes,  would  be  ours  forever  ;    and  to  such  an  incalculable 
amount,  as  would  baffle  all  conjecture  to  conceive."     Even 
the  country  which  is  immediately  interested   in  the   Canal, 
%vill  produce  more  from  the  richness  of  its  soil,  than  all  tho 
Atlantic  states  put  together.     Its  extent  and  fertility,  war- 
ranted the  Canal  Commissioners  in  making   this  assertion 
some  years  ago.     But  two  outlets    remain  for  this  produce  :. 
the  one  down  the  Lakes  to  the  St.  Lawrence — the  other,  un- 
der the  present  circumstances,  by  laborious  land  carriage  io 
Albimy,  and   from  thence  down    the  Hudson  to  Xew-York. 
\Vhat  is  the  effect  ?   Why,  that  a  branch  of  the  most  profita- 
ble trade,  flows  to  a  British  market,  and   enriches  our  natu- 
ral enemy,  the  arrogant  usurper,  that  would  domineer    over 
the  whole  world.     What   policy  is  England    pursuing  with 
her  \orth  American  colonies  ?     A   policy  whose   end  is  to 
reader  th'Mii  formidable  to  us  in  a  commercial  point  of  view. 
Il<*ri"e  we  see  her  totally  departing  from  the  ordinary  rigors 
and  oppressions  of  her  general  colonial  policy,  In  her  gov- 


-t-V-nmcnt  of  the  Canadas.     Their  taxes  are  light,  their  laws 
liberal,  their  privileges  comparatively  numerous,  and  the  ex* 
IMMICCS  of  the  government  have  heretofore,   at  some  periods, 
been  a  tax  to  the  British  Treasury.     We  must   remember 
that  the  Canadas  contain  more  square  miles  than    our  five 
largest  states,  and  can  sustain  a  great,  hardy  and  formidable 
population,   as  much  so  as  the  population  of  the   north   of 
Europe.     Dr.  Franklin,  when  examined  at  the  bar  ot  the 
British  House  of  Commons,  previous  to  the  revolution,  cal- 
led them  a  "  vast  country."     It   will  be  the   policy  of  the1 
British  Cabinet,   to  increase  their  population  to  the  utmost 
extent  of  her  power.     It  has  been  frequently  avowed   in  the 
British  Ministerial  Gazettes  and  Journals,  since  the  late  war, 
that  the  North  American  Colonies    should   be   fostered   and 
protected,  as  a  check  upon  the  alarming;  commercial  great- 
ness of  the  United  States,     feven  the  colonial  governments* 
have  gone  so   far  as  to  express  their  alarm,   through  their 
official  papers,   of  the  New-York   state  government :  nay, 
they  have  gone  further,    and  are  actually   engaged  in  coun- 
teracting our  policy,   by  making  a  canal  of  no  small  impor- 
tance, at  the  present  moment,  which  may  sensibly  affect  our 
northern  trade.     What  immense  quantities  of  produce  would 
find  their  way  to  Montreal  in  the  course  of  another  genera- 
tion, without  any  countervailing  diversion  on  our   part,  no 
"mind  can  estimate  ;  but  enough  is  seen,  to  hold  out  the  most 
imperious  obligations  to  the  government   and  people  of  the 
United  States,   to  divert  and  command   this  trade.     No  one 
can  hesitate  to  say  what  course  it  will  take,  when  the  Great 
Western  Canal  shall  be  finished.*     The  Canal  Commission- 
ers in  1812,  in  answer  to  the  doubts  expressed   by  the  gov- 
ernment of  Michigan  Territory,  in  relation  to  the   policy  of 

*  We  understand  that  a  \vorkof400  pages  is. now  in  the  press, 
to  prove  that  the  Western  Canal  should  be  abandoned,  for  a  Ca- 
nal around  Niagara  Falls,  and  that  this  advocate  for  a  trade  with 
Montreal  is  an  American  Citizen  ! 


suiting  our  Canal  in  its  present  direct  ion,  made  it  fully  ev> 
dent  by  the  iiwst  irresistible  and  conclusive  pi-oofs,  that  it 
woukl  be  far  cheaper  to  take  produce  to  New- York  than  to 
Montreal,  ou  the  completion  of  the  Canal,  even  were  there 
a  Canal  cut  round  the  tremendous  cataract  of  Niagara, 
which  we  think  willYiot  shortly  be  done  :  but  more  than  this, 
U  will  be  even  cheaper  to  take  produce  from  above  the  Falls 
to  New- York,  than  from  Lewistown  below  the  Falls,  to  Mon- 
treal. As  it  now  is,  and  probably  ever  will  be,  the  portage 
round  the  Falls,  from  one  Lake  to  the  other,  must  prove  a 
formidable  tax,  even  leaving  out  the  difference  of  risk  in  go- 
ing to  the  British,  instead  of  the  New-Y'ork  market.  flhe 
Fur  trade  which  we  shall  command  by  uutan*  of  the  Canal, 
will  prove  of  no  minor  consequence  r/^md  in  fact,  such  are 
the  incalculable  and  stupendous  cornmercial  advantages, 
which  our  project  promises  fair  to  secure,  that  we  need  «ot 
endeavor  to  render  them  more  palpable.  The  import  and 
export  trade  of  New-York,  through  this  great  channel,  will 
hereafter  astonish  the  nation  and  the  world.  M 

/jfhe  importance  of  opening  a  home  market  for  produce, 
when  we  take  into  view  the  interests  of  agriculture,  is  strik- 
ingly important.  Agriculture  flourishes,  in  proportion  to 
the  encouragement  it  receives  from  consumption,  and  ready 
demand  in  the  marked.  Home  markets  are  greatly  prefera- 
ble to  those  of  a  foreign  description,  being  secure  from  the 
fluctuations  and  inconstancy,  which  more  or  less,  pertain  to 
those  distant  resorts  for  the  sale  of  our  surplus  productions. // 
There  is  but  little  inducement  to  make  improvements  in  thiy 
most  essential  of  all  branches  of  industry,  if  the  distance 
and  uncertainty  of  the  market,  creates  an  expense  that  ab- 
sorbs the  profits  of  labor.  We  have  before  referred  to  the 
doctrine  of  great  political  economists,  where  they  lay  down 
the  advantages  which  result  from  encouraging  the  cultivation 
of  the  remote  parts  of  a  country,  by  facilitating  and  accom- 
plishing the  means  of  an  easy  and  safe  communication  with 


18 

,  -  v ,  . 

Jarge  cities.  The  correctness  of  their  ideas  are  abundantly 
proved  by  their  application  to  the  great  westeru  country, 
that  borders  on  the  Lakes.  There  are  (hose  too  who  be- 
lieve, with  strong  and  prominent  reasons  for  their  faith,  that 
the  western  country  is  yet  to  contain  rich  and  extensive  man- 
ufacturing establishments.  Although  it  was  a  wilderness 
when  Volney  travelled  through  our  country,  yet  he  called  it 
the  Flanders  of  America,  and  foretold  its  future  greatness 
as  a  manufacturing  country.  Should  these  predictions  ever 
prove  true,  ourcunal  will  present  a  channel  through  which 
a  great  proportion  of  the  fruits  of  this  species  of  industry, 
and  application  of  capital,  can  be  wafted  with  ease  and  ce~ 
lerity  to  that  rich  mart  of  commerce,  that  will  afford  them 
a  ready  market.  The  abundance  of  coal  which  is  supposed 
to  lie  in  the  vicinity  of  the  lakes  and  the  successful  experi- 
mcjit  which  has  been  made  in  different  kinds  of  manufactures 
at  Pittshurg,  by  the  application  of  steam,  favors  the  sound- 
ness of  these  anticipations. 

Our  public  lands  have  heretofore  occupied  no  inconsidera- 
ble space,  in  the  estimation  of  the  national  government. — • 
Two  considerations  arc  intimately  connected  with  them; — 
iirst,  the  pecuniary  advantages  to  be  derived  to  the  nation 
from  their  sale  ;  and  secondly,  the  extent  and  character  of 
the  population  which  is  to  inhabit  them.  Both  of  these 
considerations  will  be  materially  affected  by  the  western  ca- 
nal. It  is  a  well  authenticated  fact,  that  tinder  present  cir- 
cumstances, the  national  government  labors  under  much  dis- 
appointment* in  relation  to  the  expected  revenue  to  be  deri- 
ved from  the  sale  of  these  national  domains.  During  the 
last  session  of  Congress,  a  resolution  was  passed  appointing 
a  committee  to  enquire  into  the  expediency  of  raising  the 
price  of  public  lands.  The  following  is  a  part  of  the  re- 
port which  they  submitted  : — "  Indeed  the  eommiftee  feel 
somewhat  apprehensive,  that  the  United  States,  so  far  from 
being  enabled  to  increase,  will  find  themselves  compelled  to 
lessen  the  price  of  public  lands,  or  to  forego  the  golden 


19 

tit  cams  tliev  indulge  in,  of  enormous  revenue  to  arise  from 
(heir  sale,  It  will  be  recollected  by  the  house,  that  hereto- 
fore, (he  puhlfc  has  been  the  monopolist  of  land — that  not- 
withstanding this  advantage,  not  more  than  eight  or  nine 
millions  of  acres  have  been  sold,  for  a  sum  less  than 
19,000,000  of  dollars,  and  that  too  during  a  space  of  18  or 
20  years."*  This  is  enough  to  sho\\  that  the  public  lands 
are  not  productive  of  that  pecuniary  advantage,  which  was 
once  expected.  In  relation  to  this  subject,  therefore,  the 
Canal  must  be  viewed  with  much  interest.  It  has  even  been 
estimated  by  very  discerning  calculators,  that  should  the  na- 
tional government,  make  the  whole  Canal  from  the  Hudson 
to  the  Lakes,  at  an  expense  of  five  millions  of  dolia:  9 
the  rise  which  it  would  produce  in  the  sale  of  public  lands, 
must  remunerate  the  disbursements  of  tin  nation  in  ten  or 
fifteen  years.  This  estimate,  in  all  probability,  is  very 
nearly  correct.  Certain  it  is,  that  their  value  must  depend 
upon  a  disposition  to  settle  them  ;  and  they  must  be  settled 
and  reclaimed  from  a  wilderness  slate,  by  emigrants  from 
the  eastern  section  of  our  union,  and  other  thick  settled  parts 
of  the  country.  \Vhat  are  now  the  greatest  objections  to 
taking  up  and  inhabiting  these  public  lands  ?  The.. difficul- 
ties and  expense  of  emigration  and  the  want  of  a  ready 
aiarket  for  surplus  produce.  Remove  these  objections,  and 
the  stream  of  emigration  would  be  broad,  deep  awl  constant, 
as  that  great  and  majestic  flood,  sent  forth  from  the  Lakes, 
w  hose  borders  it  would  people.  Towns,  villages  and  cities 
would  spring  up,  and  emerge  from  the  bosom  of  the  wilder- 
ness, as  though  the  soil  was  smitten  by  some  potent  and  crea- 
tive hand  of  enchantment.  \Ve  know  of  no  operation,  in  the 
scope  of  either  state  or  national  government,  that  ceuld 
open  so  ready  and  so  wide  a  door  to  national  wealth  and  na- 
tional strength.  The  character  of  the  emigrants  too  will  be 
much  improved  by  our  canal.  A  great  proportion  of  the. 

*  Vide  Report  of  Committee,  Jan.  5,  1818. 


20 

populatiort  which  has  poured  into  the  western  country  for 
the  last  few  years,  has  been  honest,  enterprising,  hut  needy, 
and  forced  upon  adventure  hy  necessity.  Their  object  has 
been,  subsistence  and  comfort  for  their  numerous  families. 
But  when  ready  markets,  with  easy  and  regular  transporta- 
tion are  opened  to  these  countries,  men  of  capital  and  men 
too  of  high  standing,  as  agriculturists,  will  be  induced  to 
leave  an  old  for  a  new  ami  more  genial  soil.  Foreign  emi- 
grants of  large  fortunes,  will  also  be  induced  to  cast  a  fa- 
vorable eye  on  these  tempting  territories.  It  is  now,  that 
great  capitalists  begin  to  think  of  abandoning  the  troubled 
shores  of  the  old  world,  to  invest  their  property  and  reasr 
their  families  in  the  new.  The  vicinity  of  the  Lakes  has  al- 
ready attracted  many  foreigners  of  this  valuable  descrip- 
tion. 

The  late  war  with  Great  Britain,  as  well  as  the  present 
war  with  the  Seminole  Indians,  sufficiently  proves,  without 
going  further  back  into  our  history,  that  we  have  nothing  i& 
expect  from  these  savage  tribes  but  eontinual  depredation, 
while  hanging  on  our  borders,  with  feelings  of  jealousy  and 
revenge,  and  ready  to  rush  on  murder  and  devastation,  at 
the  beck  of  England  or  Spain.  Physical  force  on  the  fron- 
tiers, by  means  of  settlements,  which  are  better  than  stand- 
ing armies,  as  well  as  trade  and  intercourse,  must  correct 
these  evils,  and  remove  these  dangers  from  us.  Whatever, 
therefore,  tends  to  draw  and  sustain  an  enterprising  popula- 
tion on  our  Lake  frontier ;  whatever  tends  to  increase  oui* 
trade  with  the  Indian  Tribes,  tends  to  our  peace  and  securi- 
ty. And  is  the  civilization  of  the  Savages  nothing,  which 
must  follow  this  state  of  things  ?  Is  it  of  no  importance  to 
redeem  these  unfortunate  beings  from  that  unhappy  state  of 
moral  and  intellectual  degradation,  which  pertains  to  their 
ordinary  condition  ?  Constant  intercourse  can  alone  elevate 
to  a  more  tolerable  standing,  their  present  depressed  char- 
acter. It  is  this  alone  which  can  subdue  the  wild  and  un- 
checked propensities  of  the  savage  soul,  and  mould  it  to  the 


dictates  of  civil  restraint,  and  the  precepts  of  morality.  Il- 
lumine their  cabins  and  irradiate  their  haunts  with  the  mild 
and  gladdening  beams  of  civilization,  and  we  shall  no  longer 
find  the  abodes  of  domestic  tranquillity  roused  to  terror  by 
the  soul  chilling  war-whoop,  or  families  falling  victims  to 
sanguinary  massacre.  We  ought  not  here  to  forbear  men- 
tion ing,  by  May  of  illustration,  (hat  a  tribe  of  Indians  in  our 
own  state,  have  been  so  far  reclaimed  by  intercourse  and  ex- 
ample, as  recently  to  have  even  instituted  among  them,  a  so- 
ciciy  for  agricultural  improvement.  When  the  Western 
Canal  shall  be  opened,  and  a  vast  and  vigorous  commerce 
carried  on  through  the  Lakes,  fed  by  the  territories  in  their 
vicinity,  we  cannot  but  hope,  that  great  and  beneficent  e£- 
fecis  will  be  extended  by  these  means  to  our  imlir.n  neigh- 
bors. 

Candor  enjoins,  that  in  recounting  the  advantages  of  ow 
undertaking,  we  should  not  omit  the  facilities  it  will  afford, 
for  (he  transportation  of  every  thing  of  a  naval  and  military 
nature*  connected  with  the  defence  of  our  extensive  frontiers. 
We  wish  not  for  war  with  Great  Britain  ;  we  wish  not  fei- 
war  with  any  nation,  unless  wag'  d  lor  future  safety,  and  in 
vindication  of  our  national  rights.  Should  the  day  ever 
come,  \\hen  the  interest  and  policy  of  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  should  again  clash  ;  or  should  that  great 
crisis  ever  arrive,  when  the  empire  of  the  maritime  work! 
shall  be  decided  bv  the  two  nations,  and  the  Lakes  again 
become  the  splendid  theatre  of  naval  warfare  ;  we  shall  nt-1 
take  it  upon  ourselves  to  say  \\hat  would  be  the  utility  of 
our  Canal,  as  a  medium  of  transportation.  But  dismissing 
these  benefits  in  perspective,  as  visionary  and  romantic,  we 
must  certainly  admit  that  a  military  force  is  to  be  maintain- 
ed in  conjunction  with  some  naval  force,  to  guard  our  lake 
frontiers,  while  England  holds  the  Canadas.  On  the  late 
debate  in  Congress,  Gen.  James  Tallmadge,  jun.  a  member 
from  the  state  of  New-York,  shewed,  in  his  usual  clear  and 
luminous  manner,  the  enormous  expense  of  transportation  to 


22 

fhe  Lakes,  under  present  circumstances.  Ho  stated,  without 
contradiction,  that  the  munitions  of  war  for  the  armament 
on  Luke  Erie,  were  sent  from  the  seat  of  government.  The 
cost  of  a  cannon  at  thai  place  was  $400,  while  the  transporta- 
tion was  from  one  thousand  five  hundred  to  two  thousand 
dollars  per  gun  !  The  delay,  too,  in  transportation,  to  he  also 
considered  in  addition  to  the  expense.  He  also  stated,  and 
from  information  derived  from  the  war  department,  that 
while  the  House  was  then  debating  on  the  expediency  of 
opening  communications,  that  would  lessen  the  price  of 
transportation,  the  Government  was  paying  g!27  per  barrel 
for  pork,  to  sustain  the  western  garrisons.  Gen.  Tallmadge 
observed,  that  he  spoke  within  hounds,  when  he  asserted, 
that  money  enough  had  been  wasted  during  the  war,  for 
want  of  military  roads  and  canals,  to  turnpike  the  whole 
western  country.  If  this  remark  be  true,  we  do  not  hesitate 
to  say,  that  had  the  Western  Canal  been  completed  in  1812, 
it  would  have  saved  enough  to  the  nation,  in  the  charges  of 
transportation,  to  make  three  such  Canals  as  ours.  One  of 
the  late  Aids  of  Gen.  Harrison,  and  now  a  respectable  mem- 
ber of  the  bar  of  New  Orleans,  informed  us  a  few  week$ 
since,  that  it  cost  the  General  Government  $100,  per  bar- 
rel for  flour  and  $60,  per  bushel  for  oats,  at  Fort  Meigs, 
during  the  northwestern  campaign,  taking  into  view  the 
forage  for  the  horses  on  the  way,  and  the  horses  that  were 
lost.  In  these  observations,  we  say  nothing  of  the  time 
which  was  sacrificed  to  an  army  engaged  in  active  hostilities* 
Is  it  then  of  no  consequence  \yhen  viewed  in  relation  to  fu- 
ture exigencies  ? 

In  young  countries,  most  branches  of  knowledge  keep 
pace  with  necessity.  Hie  collective  industry  of  the  people 
is  exerted  in  pursuits,  connected  with  the  immediate  wants  of 
community.  This  is  the  case  with  ourselves.  \Vecannot 
yet  afford  to  strike  off  into  those  great  ranges  of  experiment, 
which  are  attended  with  the  consumption  of  time,  labor  and 
expense,  for  the  acquisition  of  unproductive  knowledge. 


Engineers,  therefore,  for  other  than  military  purposes,  aie 
difficult  to  be  tbunti  in  our  country.     The  demand  \\iil  now 
he  great  tor  civil  Engineers,  since  a  noble  spirit  tor  internal 
improvements,  by  canal  navigation,  exists  in  all  parts  of  the 
union.     The  importance  of  having  able  men  of  this  descrip- 
tion, is  pointed  out   by  every  writer  on  the  subject  of  inland 
trade.     The  want  of  them  has  oflen   caused  the  loss  of  im- 
mense sums  of  money,  and  defeated  many  great  and  practica- 
ble projects  in  the  line  of  their  profession.  Their  qualifications 
are  extensive,   and  much  time  and  industry  are  requisite  to 
their  acquisition.     Their  mathematical   attainments  should 
be  eminent,  and  their  knowledge  certain  and  circumstantial. 
Calculations  the  most  abstruse,  intricate  and  laborious,  will 
be  called  into  application.     A  good  Engineer  ought   to  be 
even  something  beyond  this.     Various  branches  of  natural 
philosophy,  especially   that  of  mechanics,    should  come  un- 
der his  investigation.     He  should  understand   the  principles 
and  practice  of  drawing  ;  be  conversant  with  the  history  of 
Canals  ;  the   writings  of  all  former  Engineers;  the  various 
causes  and  operations  of  trade  and    commerce,  and   under- 
stand mineralogy  and  the  science  of  agriculture.     A  Canal 
of  more  than  three   hundred  miles  in  length,  must  necessa- 
rily bring  into  requisition  a   mass  of  talent   and  experience, 
that  will   prove  a  national   advantage.     Some  of  our  Engi- 
neers are  already  highly   accomplished  in  their  profession, 
and  bid  fair  to  hold  a  proud  comparison  with  the  most  cele- 
brated men  of  the   same  profession  in  Europe.     The  nation 
tit  large  will  have  a  claim  upon  their  services,   and  no  doubt 
receive  them  when  demanded. 

If  it  creates  surprise,  that  any  one  should  look  to  the 
Western  Canal  for  acquisitions  and  advancement  in  natural 
history,  that  surprise,  upon  reflection,  must  cease  in  all  can- 
did minds.  \Ve  must  recollect,  that  in  relation  to  this  sci- 
ence, our  country,  is  yet.  comparatively  speaking,  unexplo- 
red, and  presents  the  noblest  theatre  to  the  mineralogist, 
Oiat  ever  attracted  the  enterprise  of  genius  or  the  pefseve- 


24 

ian«e  of  industry.  The  country  from  the  Hndson  to  the 
Lakes  is  possessed  of  the  richest  mineral  treasures.  That 
the  range  of  the  Canal  will  lay  open  the  most  important 
discoveries,  we  feel  warranted  in  asserting ;  we  can  even 
appeal  to  present  facts,  without  trusting  to  anticipation.  In 
<he  town  of  Manlius,  in  the  county  of  Onomlago,  two  large 
bods  of  gypsum  have  already  been  laid  open,  by  the  excava- 
tions of  the  Canal.  As  soon  as  the  middle  section  shall  be 
finished,  this  gypsum  can  be  afforded  at  Albany  for  about 
live  dollars  per  ton,  according  to  the  estimation  of  intelli- 
gent men.  Immense  quantities  of  this  article  are  now 
brought  from  Nova  Scotia  to  the  port  of  New-York,  and 
carried  up  the  Hudson  River.  This  importation  will  soon  be 
resigned  for  the  gypsum  found  in  our  own  soil.  What  other 
discoveries  may  yet  be  made,  time  will  soon  reveal.  The 
one  alluded  to  is  of  no  minor  importance.  And  lastly,  in. 
(he  train  of  these  considerations,  permit  us  to  ask  with  be- 
coming deference,  if  the  munificence  and  enterprize  of  New- 
York,  in  undertaking  a  work  to  connect  the  Hudson  with 
(he  Lakes,  at  an  expense  of  five  millions  of  dollars,  has 
done  nothing  to  rouse  the  slumbering  energies  of  other  states 
*o'  their  own  internal  improvements  ?  We  claim  neither 
respect  nor  praise  in  making  this  appeal  ;  but  we  do  say  with 
an  assurance,  that  time  and  experience  amply  fortify,  that 
stupendous  projects,  and  vast  undertakings  in  the  policy  of 
states  and  nations,  lean  upon  and  sustain  each  other  by  a  kind 
of  political  sympathy.  Human  enterprise  exists  deep  in  the 
soul,  and  waits  but  for  objects  and  occasion  to  call  it  forth. — 
When  once  directed  to  great  ends,  it  seldom  pauses  until  it 
erects  to  itself  imperishable  monuments,  to  mark  the  theatre 
and  extent  of  its  operations.  When  once  a  spirit  of  useful 
improvement,  in  any  great  branch  of  industry  takes  fire 
among  a  liberal  and  powerful  people,  it  strikes  out  a  bold, 
energetic  and  enlightened  policy,  that  leaves  its  features  on 
the  history  of  the  age.  Look  around  among  the  states  of  the 
union  : — Where  is  there  a  member  of  the  confederacy  that 


25 

tltses  not  lurn  \vilh  anxiety  to  the  developement  of  its  internal 
strength  ?  Where  is  there  a  liberal,  high-minded  state,  that 
Lus  not  referred  in  language  of  praise,  to  the  enterprize  and 
liberality  of  the  state  of  New-York  ?  Pennsylvania  is  as- 
suming an  attitude  suitable  to  her  great  strength,  and  seems 
deeply  sensible  of  her  interests.  Virginia,  Kentucky  and 
Massachusetts,  are  putting  forth  -their  resources.  Almost 
every  state  in  the  union  has  some  favorite  plan  of  inland 
navigation  ;  and  even  some  of  our  new  states  and  territories 
l)egin  to  look  at  their  rivers,  and  wish  to  see  their  waters 
blended  by  Canals,  their -distant  boundaries  approximated  by 
intercourse,  and  to  dream  of  the  golden  fruits  of  internal 
trade.  These  feelings  spread  through  our  uniou,  as  far  as 
our  eagle  bends  her  circuit  or  hovers  over  her  empire.  Well 
may  our  sisters  of  the  confederacy  say,  if  New-York  tinder- 
takes  a  Canal  of  more  than  three  hundred  miles*  at  an  esti- 
mate of  five  millions,  shall  we  remain  inactive,  and  suffer  aft 
incubus  to  fasten  upon  our  energies  ?  Shall  we  suffer  our 
years  to  waste  away,  our  ambition  to  sleep  in  the  sha<le,  and 
eur  natural  resources  remain  unimproved?  No!  other 
states  feel  like  New-York,  and  reciprocate  the  spirit  of  lib- 
erality and  enterprise,  which  she  is  proud  to  cherish  and 
i'ojwrfrate  to  admiring  nations. 

he  advantages  which  must  result,  immediately  to  the  state 
«f  New-York,  from  the  Great  Western  Canal,  besides  those 
heretofore  generally  pointed  out,  will  flow  from  tv/o  sources — ge/of  "the 
First,  from  the  artificial  mill  seats  which  the  surplus  waters 
of  the  Canal  will  create,  and  the  numerous  hydraulic  Uses  to 
which  they  may  be  applied*  It  is  proposed  not  to  convey 
these  privileges  in  perpetuity,  but  merely  lease  them,  that 
their  increase  in  profit  and  advantage  may  result  to  the  state* 
Secondly,  from  the  tolls  and  transit  duties  upon  vessels  and 
cargoes,  in  ascending  and  descending  the  CanaJ^V 

The  extent  and  magnitude  of  the  advantages  to  be  deri- 
ved from  the  first  of  these  sources,  must  depend  upon 

I) 


iitious  circumstances,  and  will  not  permit  any  thing  like  a 
definite  calculation  in  dollars  and  cents.  They  have  been 
found  of  much  importance  in  Europe,  and  will  unquestiona- 
bly subserve  many  important  ends  in  this  country.  The 
benefits  to  he  derived  from  the  second,  deserves  a  more  par- 
ticular notice. 

Shortly  previous  to  the  death  of  the  ingenious  and  lamen- 
ted Ful?on,  to  whom  the  nation  and  the  world  owe  eternal 
obligations  of  gratitude  and  respect,  he  made   some  enqui- 
ries, and  gave  some  interesting  data  on  the  subject  now  un- 
der consideration.     From  examining  the  custom-house  books, 
he  calculated   that  400,000   tons  of  freight    were  annually 
carried  on  the   Hudson,   although   it   is  probable  that  the 
amount  is  now  considerably  greater.     From  the  comparison 
which  these  data  afford,    between  the  country  trading  on  the 
Hudson,  and  the  immense  country    which  must  send  her  pro- 
ductions, and  receive  her  supplies   through  the  Canal — he 
came  to  the  conclusion,  that  1,000,000  of  tons  would  be  an- 
nually transported  on  it  between  Buffalo  and  Albany.     The 
expense  of  transporting  a  ton  over  the  distance  between  Al- 
bany and  Lake  Erie,  by  land,  is  now  glOO — the  expense  of 
transportinga  ton  the  same  distance,  through  the  canal,  will  be 
$S  53,  allowing  $3  53  for  transportation,  and  $5  per  ton  for 
toll.  Taking  Mr.  Fulton's  calculation  to  be  correct,  and  allow 
the  annual  transportation  of  this  1,000,000  ot  tons  by  land  at 
BLOO  per  ton,  it  would  shew  us  a  yearly  expense  of  100,000,- 
000  of  dollars  for  bare  transportation.     The  transportation  of 
the  same  quantity  through  the  Canal,  would  be  88,430,000 
making  an  aggregate  difference  of  $91,430,000,  or  a  differ- 
ence  of  $91  47  on  each  ton  !     In  these   calculations,   we 
must  not  forget  the  time  that  would  be  turned  to  unproduc- 
tive labor  in  the  land  transportation.     This  difference  in  the 
transportation  would  be  added  to  the  price  of  the  commodi- 
ties and  merchandize  transported,   and  operate  with  perni- 
cious offsets,  and  levey  a  burthensome  tax  upon  community. 
we  shall  b«  told  that  this  reasoning  is  idle  and  vision- 


27 

ary ;  that  not  one  half  ef  this  1,000,000  of  tons,  would  ever 
be  curried  over  this  extensive  distance  by  laud.  This  we 
sincerely  believe — perhaps  not  a  third  of  the  quantity  would 
ever  he  thus  transported.  And  \\ity  ?  Because  of  t,,c 
monstrous  expens'-  of  land  transportation.  No — wilhou  die 
>\ « stern  Canal,  a  great  proportion  of  this  1,000,000  tons 
would  pass  through  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  teed  the  treasury, 
and  nerve  the  energies  oi*  old  England. — There  must  be  an 
outlet  lo  the  productions  of  that  fertile  and  vast  country, 
reposing  on  our  inland  seas  ;  and  there  must  he  an  inlei  for 
the  articles  of  merchandize  which  it  wants.  "Without  the 
Western  Canal,  they  will  be  monopolized  in  a  great  meas- 
ure by  England,  and  this  is  one  of  the  most  conclusive  rea- 
sons lor  prosecuting  our  works.  "When  the  Canal  shall  be 
finished,  Mr.  Fuhoivs  calculations  will  be  fully  verified. 

What  could  more  strongly  illustrate  this  position  of  Mr, 
Phillips,  in  his  History  of  Inland  Navigation,  «  That  all 
Canals  may  lie  considered  as  roads  of  a  certain  kind,  on 
which  one  horse  will  draw  as  much  as  thirty  horses  do,  on 
the  ordinary  turnpike  roads,  or  on  which  one  man  alone  will 
transport  as  many  goods  as  three  men  and  eighteen  horses 
usualh  do  on  common  roads.  The  public  would  be  great 
gainers,  were  I  hey  to  lay  out  upon  the  making  of  every  mile 
of  Canal  twenty  timts  as  much  as  they  expend  upon  making 
a  uiiie  of  turnpike  road."*=  Nor  must  we  here  forget  Mr. 
Fulton's  assertion  to  31  r.  Gallalin,  «  That  on  a  road  of  the 
IK-SI  kind,  four  horses  and  sometimes  Jive  are  necessary  to 
transport  only  three  tons.  On  a  Canal  one  horse  will  draw 
twenty  Jive  tons,  and  thus  perform  the  work  of  forty  horses  ; 
tht-  saving,  therefore,  is  in  the  value  of  the  horses,  their 
feeding,  shoeing,  geer,  waggons  and  attendance."! 

Pursuing  still  further  the  first  data  afforded  us  by  Mr. 
Fulton,  we  shall  perceive  that  the  annual  toll  on  1,000,000 
of  tons,  passing  through  the  Canal  at  £5  per  ton,  would  give 

*  History  of  Internal  Navigation,  Pref.  p.  9. 

*  Letter  to  Mr.  Gtillatin,  Dec.  8.  18iT. 


28' 

911  annual  revenue  to  (lie  state  of  £5.000,000  ;  Him 
there  be  more  received  into  the  state  treasury,  in  one  year,- 
than  the  whole  cost  of  the  Canal  ?  Well  may  \ve  exclaitnr 
that  in  no  other  way  could  the  state  invest  her  surplus  rev- 
enue to  such  an  unprecedented  profit  and  advantage.  But 
admitting  for  a  moment,  against  our  most  settled  convictions,, 
that  Mr.  Fulton's  calculation,  and  the  calculations  of  the 
commissioners  and  engineers  at  a  subsequent  period,  are  too 
extravagant ;  it  is  certainly  rather  indecorously  detracting 
from  their  credit  and  reputation,  as  men  of  abilities  and  cor- 
rectness, to  reject  one  half  of  (heir  computations  as  errone- 
ous, and  say.  for  tlie  sake  of  argument,  that  instead  of 
1,000,000  of  tons,  halt"  the  quantity,  500,000  tons  should 
pass  through  the  Canal — this  would,  still  give  the  state 
$2,500,000.  But  advance  aslep  further,  and  condescend  to 
apply  the  principle  of  subtraction  so  far,  as  to  reduce  the 
number  of  tons  passing  the  Canal  yearly  to  400,000,  the 
number  of  tons  passing  on  the  Hudson  at  the  time  of  Mr. 
Fulton  ;  then  it  still  leaves  an  annual  revenue  of  S2,000,000» 
So  turn  the  calculations  as  you  will,  garble,  deduct,  ami 
equivocate  as  you  please,  and  still  the  estimated  revenue 
wears  an  astonishing  magnitude.  But  5,000,000  of  annual 
income  to  the  state  is  rather  too  moderate  than  too  high  air 
estimate.  Leaving  the  name  and  authority  of  Fulton  out  of 
the  question,  whose  calculations  are  quoted,  in  relation  to 
Canals,  by  every  great  writer  in  Europe,  and  set  down  a& 
scrupulously  orthodox — leaving  him  entirely  out  of  consid- 
eration, we  ought  not  to  forget  that  in  all  calculations  con- 
eerning  the  future  grandeur  and  resources  of  our  country, 
we  rather  fall  below  than  transcend  the  true  degree ;  for* 
in  the  words  of  the  illustrious  Burke,  "  e«r  growth  outstrips 
the  ordinary  grasp  of  huuvan  anticipation." 

The  extreme  moderation  of  the  Commissioners,  in  setting 
the  (oil  at  g5  per  ton,  deserves  remark,  and  goes  far  to  for- 
tify the  correctness  of  their  estimates.  It  will  be  recolleet- 
ed,  that  one  hundred  miles  of  lock  navigation  was  opened 


seme  years  pgo,  between  Albany  and  Utica.  i*v  flic  "We  *fen» 
Inland  Navigation  CoiK/.iiiiy.  The  rate  of  (oil  charged  for 
tins  one  hundred  n.iK^s,  has  been  S5  20  per  (on  :  even  more 
than  is  calculated  lt»  I.»o  !»kc;i  for  (he  whole  3."»3  mites  oC  the 
Western  Cannl  ;  nor  do  we  know  (hat  (l)is  fate  of  &5  20  has 
ever  beeii  a  matter  of  reprehension  and  complaint.  This  il~ 
lustration  is  conclusive. 

l»ut  more  completely  to  (ear  the  scales  from  (he  eye  ef 
prejudice,  let  us  take  another  view  of  the  subject.  The 
present  annual  receipts  of  our  state  treasury,  are  nearly  omr 
million  of  dollars  :  our  expenditures  little  rising  of  half  flu- 
sum  ;  leaving  a  surplus  of  between  four  ai,d  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars  for  extraordinary  purposes.  Now,  let  us- 
suppose,  a*  we  rationally  can,  that  the  receipts  and  the  dis- 
bursements of  (he  treasury,  will  continue  to  preserve  the 
:>auic  proportion  ;  and  (hen,  also  suppose,  that  barely  om 
single  dollar  per  ton  should  be  charged  «s  Canal  toll,  from 
Lakes  to  Albany  ;  this  would  pay  for  the  Canal  in  U  : 
than  five  years,  and  leave  an  animal  surplus  of  twelve  OF 
fifteen  hundred  thousand  dollars  t»  (lie  use  of  UHJ  state,  for 
the  promotion  of  other  internal  impravcnients,  after  thac 
period.  Five  dollars  per  ton,  however,  is  the  probable  (oil 
that  will  be  taken.  This  gives  a  transportation  unrivalled 
for  its  cheapness,  and  will  enable  us  to  grasp  at  the  whole 
trade  of  the  Lakes. 

The  calculations  heretofore  made  in  relation  to  the  Canal? 
are  neither  idle  nor  delusive.  They  r:re  thus  t«r  borne  ou$ 
by  time  and  experience,  and  rest  on  the  broad  basis  of  truth,. 
reason  and  common  sense.  They  are  calculations  that  will 
stand,  when  those  who  have  assailed  them,  cease  to  blush, 
for  blinding  their  eyes  to  the  light  of  (ruth,  and  pass  down? 
the  stream  of  time,  with  all  other  opposcrsof  noble  schemes 
for  the  promotion  of  national  glory  and  national  happi- 


the  candid  of  our  own  state—  let  the  candid  and  en 
lightened  throughout  the  nation,  ponder  and  reflect  on  thr 


consequences  that  must  flow  from  the  completion  of  our 
grand   undertaking.     Let  them  observe   the  wonderful  pro- 
gress of  the  Canal,  which  we  shall  soon  exhihit,  and  think 
of  the  streams  of  wealth  that  ere  long  must  enrich  our  pub- 
lie  eoifersX^XVith  an  annual  revenue  of  five  millions  of  dol- 
lars, uncalled  for  by  any  ordinary  expense  in  sustaining  the 
state  government ;  while  marehiug  in  the  high  road  of  hon- 
or and  prosperity,  under  the  views  and  guidance  of  such  men 
as  now  watch   over  the   destinies  of  our   state  $    under  the 
superintending  genius  of  statesmen,  whose  talents  and  mag- 
nanimity east  a  lustre  over  every  feature  of  our  policy,  and 
would  even  raise  a  nation  from  ruins,  or  redeem  her  from 
misfortune,  what  can  me  not  expect  I     "We  must  confess, 
that  we  do  look  forward  to  the  glory  of  our  state,   as  well  as 
our  nation,  with  no  vulgar  emotions.     \Ve  see  our  future 
surplus  revenue  expended  in  public  improvements,  worthy  to 
stand  as  the  monuments  of  an  enlightened  age,  and  to  com- 
memorate the  actions  of  a  high-minded  people.     A  splendid 
•era  dawns  upon  us,   and  rolls  on  with  rapid  celerity,  as  the 
morning  sun  passes  over  the  mountains  and  the  valleys.— 
That  the   Western  Canal   will  be  finished   in  less  than  ten 
years,  is  as  palpably  certain  as  any  human  event  that  de- 
pends on  human  efforts  ;  and  that  its  completion  will  afford 
a  permanent  revenue  to  the  state,  from  four  to  six  millious 
of  dollars,  which  can  be  devoted  to  other  internal  improve- 
ments, and  the  encouragement  of  useful  arts,  is  equally  cer- 
tain.    It  must  bring  payments  into  our  treasury,   that  will 
enable  us  to  connect  the  navigable  waters  of  our  state,  by  a 
system  of  internal   communication,  that  will  rival   those  of 
England   and  Holland.     The  immutable  htws  of  nature,  the 
fiat  of  the  Creator  himself,  seems  to  enjoin   it. — AVe  shall 
not   stop   with  the  western  or  northern  Canal.      It   is  the 
avails  of  these  works  that  are  to  perfect  the  vast  chain  of 
intercourse.     Look  at  England,  possessing  a  sn»ailri  terri- 
tory  than   the   state   ofNew-Yoik;    yet   she   has   THK&E 
THOUSAND  MILES  of  Canal  navigation,  and  within  the  last 


31 

t\venty-ilve  years,  has  expended  on  Canals  aloue,  mot'6 
than  §130,000,000  !#  It  is  by  such  vigor  and  liberality  at 
home,  that  England  holds  her  Forty  Colonies,  shakes  her 
rod  over  the  old  world,  wields  a  commerce  that  encircles 
(he  two  hemispheres,  and  sends  forth  her  flag  to  trace  the 
boundaries  of  the  glohe.  Not  only  do  we  see  the  future  ex- 
pansion of  internal  trade,  in  the  consequences  of  our  West- 
ern Caual,  hnt  we  also  see  our  manufactures  springing  up 
on  every  side,  and  gliding  along  the  channels  opened  for  their 
diffusion.  In  the  abundance  of  our  pecuniary  means,  by  the 
same  operation  of  causes,  we  perceive  the  future  interests 
of  agriculture,  flourishing  under  the  auspices  of  our  state 
administration,  robing  our  fields  in  the  richest  garb  of  lux- 
urience,  and  whitening  our  hills  with  the  flocks  of  Andalusia. 
And  may  we  not  expect,  that  schools  and  seminaries  for  ele- 
mentary education  will  lie  founded,  and  patronized  with  a 
proud  liberality,  that  intelligent  e,  the  soul  of  liberty  and  in- 
dependence, may  spread  through  every  grade  and  rank  of 
society,  until  it  shall  even  reach  the  poor  savage  tribes  who 
live  within  oar  borders,  and  acknowledge  the  empire  of  our 
laws  ?  Benevolent  and  humane  institutions,  to  ameliorate 
the  condition  of  the  unfortunate,  and  smooth  the  rugged 
paths  of  life,  will  be  called  into  existence  by  the  parental 
voice  of  public  authority.  Nor  will  the  arts  aod  sciences 
he  forgotten.  The  New-York  State  Government  has  long 
been  distinguished  for  noble  instances  of  favor  and  encour- 
agement to  the  useful  sciences,  and  to  the  fine  arts.  Sur- 
plus millions  will  not  extinguish  this  honorable  spirit  of  am- 
bition. It  was  public  encouragement,  combined  with  the 
irresistible  movements  of  popular  pride  and  enthusiasm, 
that  carried  the  Athenian  Republic  to  the  summit  of  her 
fame  in  the  days  of  her  Pericles,  and  rendered  Florence  the 
torch  of  a  benighted  world,  under  the  government  of  her 
Medici.  It  is  patronage  and  public  favor,  that  invigorates 

*  Vide  SutclmVs  Treatise  on  Canals,  &c.  p.  75, 


tjuipkens -the  all-searching  energies  of  hmnan  inquiry 
and  investigation — that  sharpens  the  ken  of  philosopliy-^-- 
that  calls  the  Muses  from  heaven  (o  earth,  ami  gives  them 
their  groves,  their  fountains,  their  votaries.  It  is  in  fine, 
such  enceurageitient  as  the  New-York  State  Government 
will  soon  be  enabled  to  extend,  that  elicits  the  loftiest  efforts 
*>f  genius,  and  renders  a  Republic  immortal,  by  weaving  the 
memory  of  her  achievements,  with  the  transcendant  produc- 
tions of  her  great  «ml  illustrious  men. 

\Vhite  referring  to  the  advantages  resulting  to  the  nation, 

and  to  the  state,  from  the  Western  Canal,  we  ought  not  to 

forget  its  effects  on  tire  prosperity  of   our  own   city     Her 

natural  advantages  for  extensive  commerce,  are  far  greater 

than    we  ourselves  appear  willing    to  believe.       By    na* 

ture,  she  is  the  depot  of  four  states,  including  our  own  ;  and 

A<Jvan(a .the  great  Canal  is  rendering  her  the  emporium  of  a  country 

XpS  of  the at  the  west,   of  itself  sufficient  to  form  an  empire.     Com- 

Caoaltothe  ,  .   ,     .  . 

city  of. New  pared  with  other  leading  commercial  cities,  on  our  continent, 
New- York,  ia  many  important  poiats,  stands  even  destitute 
of  rivalship.  New  Orleans,  although  destined  for  a  mighty 
mart  of  trade,  must  struggle  with  a  combination  of  difficul- 
ties, that  centuries  cannot  remove.  Industry,  enterprize  and 
liberality,  will  raise  around  her  ten  thousand  monuments  of 
commercial  grandeur  ;  yet  will  the  formidable  obstacles  to 
her  prosperity,  erected  by  the  fiat  of  creation,  stand  by  their 
side,  and  sustain  a  forbidding  contrast.  Salubrity  of  climate, 
and  healthiness  of  situation,  are  important  requisites  to  a 
great  commercial  city.  The  dangers  which  all  emigrants, 
and  even  natives,  must  encounter  at  New  Orleans,  will  mate- 
rially diminish  her  other  physical  advantages.  Besides  this, 
she  stands  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi,  whose  channel  is  filled  with  many  serious 
obstructions,  from  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  alluvial  soil 
through  which  it  passes.  -The  rise  of  the  tide  affords  few 
or  no  facilities  to  an  ascending  navigation;  and  the  singular 
bead  ia  the  river,  called  the  English.  Turn,  sometimes  ope- 


33 

rates  as  a  detention  often,  fifteen,  and  twenty  days,  to  vessels 
passing  up  to  New  Orleans.  In  fact,  the  entry  from  the 
ocean,  into  any  great  place  of  trade,  which  is  liable  to  con- 
sume twenty,  thirty,  and  even  sixty  days  in  its  passage,  must 
hold  a  cheek  over  the  prospects  of  any  commercial  city. 
If  we  turn  to  Montreal,  who  pretends  to  hold  a  competition 
with  New-York  for  the  trade  of  the  Lakes,  we  shall  here 
find  a  city  nearly  five  hundred  miles  from  the  ocean,  situated 
on  the  coM  and  inclement  borders  of  a  vast  continent,  and 
locked  up  from  the  commercial  world,  for  more  than  one 
half  of  the  year,  by  the  freezing  over  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
An  ascending  navigation  from  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence te  Quebec  or  Montreal,  must  always  be  long,  tedious, 
and  often  attended  with  difficulty.  Montreal  has  even  drawn 
her  supplies  of  merchandize,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
through  the  city  of  New-York,  for  some  winters  past ;  and 
the  Northern  Canal  from  the  Hudson  to  Champlain,  will  in- 
crease this  reliance  upon  American  importations,  which  can 
always  pass  through  New-York  to  Canada,  under  the  priv- 
ilege of  a  drawback  on  the  duties  paid  to  our  Custom 
House.  Philadelphia  too,  must  compete  with  some  strong 
natural  objections  incident  to  her  situation.  She  stands 
nearly  one  hundred  miles  up  the  Delaware,  which,  like  the 
St.  Lawrence,  is  closed  for  several  months  in  the  year,  and 
insulates  this  commercial  capital  from  the  maritime  world. 
Viewed  in  relation  to  the  natural  advantages  of  the  other 
great  trading  capitals  of  the  American  continent,  not  to 
make  invidious  comparisons  between  ourselves  and  our  sister 
cities,  in  whose  prosperity  we  feel  a  deep  interest,  New-York 
must  hold  a  proud  if  not  a  pre-eminent  rank.  The  ranges 
of  human  discovery  cannot  shew  the  scite  of  a  commercial 
city,  presenting  a  greater  number  of  physical  advantages,  if 
we  consider  human  life  in  all  the  bearings,  which  local  posi- 
tion can  affect  and  influence.  We  have  a  harbor,  capacious, 
secure,  and  open  at  all  times  of  the  year  to  vessels  of  the 

E 


34 

largest  burden.  Resting  on  the  shore  of  the  ocean,  we  have 
only  to  lift  our  banner  and  spread  our  canvass,  and  we  find 
the  broad  bosom  of  the  deep.  The  superiority  of  our  situa- 
tion is  subject  to  no  ordinary  changes  of  nature  ;  it  is  perma- 
nent as  the  constitution  of  the  universe.  These  are  our  ad- 
vantages on  the  side  of  the  seaboard.  When  we  turn  to  the 
interior,  our  favorable  attitude  for  extensive  commerce,  is 
still  more  apparent.  Our  noble  river  opens  a  tide  naviga- 
tion of  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  into  the  heart  of  the 
state.  At  the  termination  of  this  natural  facility  to  trade, 
we  have  a  country  that  admits  of  nearly  four  hundred  miles 
of  canal  navigation,  which  connects  the  city  of  New-York 
with  17,00  miles  of  Lake  coast,  in  our  own  territory, 
opens  to  us  our  whole  western  world,  besides  affording  a 
communication  by  artificial  means,  with  the  waters  of  the 
north.  Owing  to  these  circumstances,  we  must  ever  com- 
mand nearly  the  whole  trade  of  New  Jersey,  Connecticut 
and  Vermont ;  by  a  communication  with  Montreal,  through 
the  Northern  Canal,  attract  a  portion  of  the  trade  of  Lower 
Canada,  above  that  place  ;  and  by  the  Western  Canal,  lay 
the  foundation  of  a  commercial  greatness,  whose  future 
magnitude  must  surpass  calculation,  when  made  under  the 
influence  of  appearances  and  objects  that  now  surround  us. 
By  this  improvement,  New-York  must,  according  to  the 
most  sober  and  rational  calculation,  draw  to  herself  the  trade 
of  a  country,  containing  a  sufficient  number  of  square  miles 
to  sustain  fifty  millions  cf  people,  if  we  take  the  population 
which  France  and  England  give  to  each  square  mile,  as  a 
rule  of  computation.  We  shall  have  the  commerce  of  a 
country  whose  salubrity  of  climate,  and  richness  of  soil, 
would  even  support  the  clustered  population  of  Italy.  When 
this  immense  trade,  like  the  fertilizing  floods  of  the  Nile, 
shall  roll  down  the  channels  which  nature  and  art  will  have 
formed  for  its  passage,  and  when  the  returning  equivalent 
which  it  will  demand,  shall  seek  the  same  course,  to  reward 
the  toils  of  industry,  it  is  not  for  us  to  say,  what  will  be 
the  future  extent  of  our  city.  In  enterprizc,  wealtli,  popu- 


35 

iatioii  and  splendor,  she  will  stand  the  London  of  America — 
a  monument  of  magnificence,  worthy  to  attract  and  com* 
in  and  the  wondering  admiration  of  the  world.  If  at  this 
day,  we  cannot  lift  our  minds,  and  expand  our  views  to  the 
contemplation  of  this  era,  at  no  great  distance  from  us  ;  let 
us  at  least  make  those  efforts  to  produce  it,  that  may  vindi- 
cate our  character  from  a  disgraceful  lethargy,  in  the  eyes 
of  other  generations,  when  it  shall  arrive.  It  is  by  aiding 
the  State  Government,  in  every  liberal  undertaking,  for  the 
promotion  of  internal  commerce,  and  agriculture,  that  New- 
York  is  to  become  a  commercial  emporium,  second  to  none 
on  the  globe.  Nature  has  willed  it;  let  not  man  trifle  with 
her  mighty  designs. 

The  great  roads  and  water  communications  which  can  here- 
after be  connected  with  the  Western  Canal,  in  our  own  stale, 
will  we  hope,  at  a  future  period,  be  circumstancially  descri- 
bed, by  apian,  already  devised  to  accomplish  the  object. —  naih  !!!*<«» 
For  the  present,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  the  country  own  State. 
through  which  the  Canal  will  pass,  is  capable  of  affording  a 
system  of  communication,  reaching  the  line,  from  the  north 
and  south  side,  of  incalculable  importance.  A  union  be- 
tween Lake  Ontario  and  the  Western  Canal,  could  be  effect- 
ed at  various  places.  They  might  be  connected  by  the  Nia- 
gara, Genesee,  and  Seneca  Rivers.  It  is  practicable  to  re- 
move the  impediments  incident  to  the  navigation  of  these 
streams,  and  render  them  important  channels  of  trade.  On 
the  south  side  of  the  canal  line,  the  Genesee  river  drains  a 
large  tract  of  country,  and  would  afford  an  easy  transporta- 
tion to  the  place  of  its  intersection.  Seneca  and  Cayuga 
Lakes,  owing  to  their  singular  and  extended  shape  and  di- 
rection from  north  to  south,  together  with  the  streams  that 
supply  them,  may  be  considered  as  affording  important  ad- 
vantages to  the  country  in  their  vicinity,  and  as  so  many 
branches  of  the  great  communication,  whose  importance 
they  serve  to  enhance.  Our  other  small  Lakes  and  streams, 
including  the  tributary  waters  of  the  Mohawk,  will  form 


36 

striking  features  in  our  future  inland  trade.    The  contem- 
plated Canal  between  Seneca  Lake  and  Tioga  river,  whtefc 
will  eonstitue  the  junction  between  the  Western  Canal  and 
the  Susquehannalu   presents  an  improvement  that  import* 
weighty  consequences  to  the  States  of  New -York  and  Penn- 
sylvania.    It  will  immediately  give  rise  to  a  profitable  trade 
in  the    articles  of  salt,  gypsum,  coal  and  iron.    An  infinite 
uuinber  of  great  roads,  leading  to  the  Canal,  could  be  easily 
made.     One  leading  from  the  Canal  line  at  Seneca,  to  Ham- 
ilton, on  the  Allegany   branch   of  the  Ohio,    would  alone 
prove  of  immense  importance,  especially  to  the  hundreds  ofif 
thousands  who  are  now  emigrating  to  the  western  country* 
It  would  also  open  an  important  and  direct  trade  between 
New-York  and  Pittsburg,  even  if  the  Canal  should  be  advan- 
ced no  farther  then  the  present  contracts  stipulate.     Anoth- 
er great  road  from  the  same  point  on  the  Allegany  river  to 
Buffalo,  at  the  termination  of  the  Canal,  would   afford  re- 
sults of  essential  magnitude.     With  the  road  from  Genesee 
to  the  Allegany  river,  you   could  easily  open  another  roatl 
that    should  oass  round  the  heads  of  Crooked,  Cayuga,  and 
Seneca  Lakes,  and  reach   the  Ithica   turnpike,   that  run:? 
from  the  head  of  Seneca  Lake  to  tbe  north-east  branch  of 
the  Susquehannah — thus  striking  out  with  a  minor  exertion 
of  our  ability  as  a   state,   a  chain  of  communication,   that 
would  meet  the  wants  of  a  growing  portion  of  our  country. 
As  we  pass  east  of  the  Seneca  Lake  to  the  Hudson,  we  find 
a  great  tract  of  territory  spreading  out,  with  important  posts, 
which  could  be  easily  connected,  to  extend,  increase  and  in- 
vigorate our  inland  commerce.     Many  important  roads  are 
already  made,  and  many  more  will  soon  be  opened  and  com- 
pleted.    In  fact  we  know  not  our  own  state,  nor  shall  we 
know  its  resources,  until  our  present  policy,  springing  from 
enlarged  and  liberal  views,  and  supported  by  the  energies  of  an 
enlightened  community,   consummates  the  astonishing  work 
which  it  has  begun,  with  boldness  and  success. 


3? 

These  are  our  views.  Gangrene  is  the  heart  that  cannot 
reciprocate — mean  the  soul  that  cannot  feel  them  ! 

Having  pointed  out  some  of  the  prominent  advantages 
which  must  result  from  the  Western  Canal,  we  shall  give  a 
view  of  its  present  state  and  progress.  We  shall  speak 
from  facts,  in  relation  to  the  advancement  of  the  works 
which  are  drawn  from  authentic  sources. 

When  the  Western  Canal  was  first  seriously  contemplated* 
as  a  practicable  ohject,  two  considerations  naturally  arose 
in  the  minds  of  its  projectors — the  DISTANCE  and  the  EX- 
TENSE.  On  these  two  suhjects,  much  was  said  and  written. 
Those  who  were  too  weak,  or  too  prejudiced  to  perceive  the 
grandeur  and  utility  of  the  design,  maintained  the  doctrine 
with  a  zeal  that  might  have  honored  even  a  good  cause,  that 
the  obstacles  connected  with  these  two  formidable  barriers 
were  insurmountable ;  that  the  making  of  three  or  four 
hundred  miles  of  Canal,  would  even  baffle  (he  whole  col- 
lective energies  of  the  nation,  at  this  early  stage  of  our  his- 
tory. Twenty  millions  of  dollars  was  the  round  sum  fre- 
quently set  down  as  the  probable  cost.  It  was  said,  that 
none  but  a  powerful  empire,  with  a  surplus  population  and 
overflowing  wealth,  should  dream  of  such  vast  schemes. — 
Limited  means  and  paucity  of  numbers  were  instanced,  as 
unanswerable  arguments,  to  consign  over  the  execution  of 
tliis  grand  and  magnilicent  plan  of  internal  trade,  to  some 
distant  age  of  our  republic.  Yes — this  was  the  reasoning 
of  the  day  ;  although  this  same  Western  Canal,  once  so  indi- 
cative of  folly  and  romance,  is  now  held  up  by  the  same  hos- 
tile few»  as  a  project  to  catch  popular  favor,  to  subserve  in- 
dividual elevation  and  aggrandizement.  Such  are  the  con- 
flicting absurdities  of  prejudice  ;  such  the  prevarications  of 
litlle  minds  when  struggling  to  defeat  great  ends  ! 

The  board  of  commissioners,  to  whom  the  legislature  en- 
trusted the  superintendance  of  the  work,  was  composed  ot 
some  of  the  first  statesmen  in  our  country,  combined  with 
practical  men  in  affairs  oi  internal  navigation,  who  held  the 


highest  rank  in  their  profession.  With  coolness  and  delibe- 
ration, they  explored  the  route  with  every  circumstance  of 
requisite  minuteness ;  they  laid  off  the  three  great  sections, 
made  every  necessary  calculation,  and  placed  their  views 
lie  fore  the  legislature  and  the  public.  In  relation  to  esti- 
mates of  the  expense,  a  punctilious  regard  was  paid  to  cor- 
rectness. And  what  was  the  result  of  their  observations 
and  estimates  ?  Why,  that  with  regard  to  the  expense  and 
practicability  of  making  the  Canal,  for  the  whole  distance 
of  the  route,  not  a  solitary  doubt  could  rationally  exist. — 
They  found  the  soil  and  face  of  the  country  possessing  pro- 
perties and  features  peculiarly  favorable  ;  and  the  details  of 
expense,  when  combined  in  one  general  calculation,  fell  be- 
low their  anticipations. 

In  reference  to  the  disbursements  necessary  to  complete 
the  Canal,  no  doubt  now  remains — the  question  is  settled. 
And  indeed,  no  candid  and  discerning  man,  who  ever  knew 
and  had  studied  the  resources  of  the  state  of  New-York,  en- 
tertained the  least  apprehension  on  this  head,  or  doubted  her 
Finance?  capacity  to  make  two  such  Canals,  in  the  same  space  of  time 
ltc  allowed  for  the  one  in  contemplation.  We  do  not  hesitate  to 
say,  that  New-York  could  now  raise  more  ready  money  in  a 
given  time,  than  the  whole  United  Stales,  at  the  organization 
of  our  national  government.  The  last  war  proved  some- 
thing like  a  test  to  her  wealth  and  power,  when  at  the  dark- 
est hour  of  our  perils,  she  stepped  forth,  and  nobly  sustain- 
ed the  sinking  credit  of  the  nation.  Let  her  come  forward 
now  and  pledge  her  faith,  and  twenty  millions  of  dollars 
•would  be  at  her  command.  It  was  never  contemplated  to 
lay  any  direct  taxes  to  advance  and  accomplish  the  Canal. 
Certain  taxes,  which  have,  or  might  come  into  the  treasury, 
in  the  ordinary  course  of  things,  have  been  relied  upon.  It 
has  been  rather  the  setting  apart  of  certain  taxes  as  a  per- 
manent sinking  fund,  upon  the  strength  of  which  loans  are 
to  be  obtained,  redeemable  at  a  distant  period,  with  a  semi- 
annual payment  of  interest,  than  any  increase  of  publie 


39 

burthens.  The  taxes  are  light  and  equitable,  and  hav-e 
come  regularly  into  the  treasury  of  the  state*  No  difficulty 
is  or  can  he  experienced  on  this  ground.  As  for  loans,  we 
have  hut  to  ask  and  receive.  The  state  has  only  to  open  her 
hooks,  and  eight  times  the  sum  demanded  is  offered.  The 
manner  in  which  the  late  canal  lean  of  8250,000  was  taken 
np,  will  reflect  all  the  light  on  this  part  of  our  subject,  that 
the  most  fastidious  and  sceptical  could  demand.  Notice 
having  been  given,  that  proposals  would  he  received  at  the 
comptroller's  office,  to  take  up  the  loan  of  S250,000,  to 
bear  six  per  cent  interest,  the  following  v,  ere  the  proposals 
sent  in  : — 

New-York  State  Bank,  10*  52. 

Utica  do.  103  C2. 

Ontario  do.  103  50. 

\Vm.  Edgar,  jun.  esq.  103  18  pr.  ct. 

T.  Fowler,  esq.  103  18  pr.  ct.  Loans* 

Mechanics'  &  Farmers'  Bank,          103  pr.  ct. 

Messrs.  Le  Roy,  Bayard  &  Co.   and  Messrs.  Prime* 
Ward  &  Sands,  102  |  pr.  ct. 

S.  Flewwelling,  esq.  102  |  pr.  ct. 

The  State  Bank  being  the  highest  bidder,  of  course  took 
the  loan. 

AVhat  do  these  proposals  shew  ?  Plainly  and  simply,  that 
the  public  securities  of  the  state,  for  the  payment  of  Canal 
loans,  are  more  than  41-2  per  cent  above  par — or  to  speak 
in  other  words,  for  every  one  hundred  dollars  of  public  se- 
curity, bearing  an  interest  of  six  per  cent,  one  hundred  anil 
four  dollars  and  fifty  cents  are  given.  Thus,  for  the  PRIVI- 
LEGE of  holding  the  security  of  the  state,  for  the  sum  of 
8250,000,  the  New-York  State  Bank  comes  forward  and 
gives  the  sum  of  gll,250.  The  state  makes  itself  liable  to 
•pay  to  the  State  Bank,  at  a  future  day,  S250.000,  with  an 
interest  of  six  per  cent,  which  is  below  the  legal  interest  of 
the  state  :  For  thus  making  herself  liable,  she  receives,  in 
ready  cash  $5261, 250 — an  advance  nearly  sufficient  to  pay  the 


interest  on  the  whole  loan,  for  the  first  year.  The  state 
\vish  to  obtain  by  loan  this  sum  of  $250,000,  and  the  whole 
amount  of  the  offers  made  to  take  this  sum  up,  leaving  out 
the  advance,  is  $2,090,000.  Now,  should  the  state  offer 
security  for  this  whole  amount,  bearing  six  percent  interest, 
the  offer  would  be  immediately  embraced,  and  two  millions 
of  dollars  be  ready  for  the  Canal  works.  Those  who  are 
conversant  in  stocks  and  money  concerns,  will  pardon  us  for 
this  minuteness  in  explanation  ;  we  do  it  to  suit  the  most 
simple  comprehension,  not  to  instruct  those,  to  whose  supe- 
rior knowledge  we  should  bow  with  deference. 

In  the  teeth  of  these  facts,  will  any  man,  or  any  body  of 
men,  still  absurdly  contend  that  New- York  is  not  capable, 
in  point  of  financial  resources,  to  connect  the  Hudson  with 
the  Lakes  ?  Shall  a  state,  which  in  wealth  and  power  is  an 
empire  of  herself,  shrink  from  five  millions  of  dollars,  when 
she  can  raise  it  by  lifting  her  hand  ?  The  amount  of  capi- 
tal invested  in  buildings,  going  up  this  very  summer  in  the 
City  of  New- York,  is  more  than  enough  to  make  the  Grand 
Canal.  The  yearly  interest  which  the  Canal  Commission- 
ers required  the  state  to  pay,  on  the  whole  Canal  loan,  was 
$27<X,000.  The  single  City  of  New- York  this  year,  pays 
an  extra  tax,  assessed  by  the  Corporation  of  $250,000 
for  her  own  improvements,  coming  near  to  the  full  amount 
which  the  whole  state  is  to  furnish.  Let  us  hear  no  more 
on  this  head.  It  is  but  insulting  a  state  like  ours,  to  doubt 
her  means  to  connect  her  own  waters  at  an  expense  that 
bears  so  little  proportion  to  her  ability.  New-York  neither 
asks  nor  will  receive  any  aid  beyond  her  own  boundaries. 
There  was  a  day  when  she  thought  that  the  national  govern- 
ment would  see  the  policy  of  taking  up  this  great  Canal,  as  a 
national  work.  That  matter  is  now  at  rest.  New-York  has 
reason  to  be  proud  and  rejoice,  that  she  of  herself  has  com- 
menced the  undertaking,  and  is  able  to  finish  it.  She  knows 
her  strength,  and  she  knows  also  how  to  apply  it.  If  on  the 
constitutional  question,  involving  the  appropriation  of  money 


41 

fry  the  National  government,  to  open  Roads  anil  Canals,  Shfc 
has  felt  a  zeal  and  warmth  ;  k  has  not  been  for  herself 
alone  but  for  other  states,  less  rieh  in  population  and  wealth, 
If  her  statesmen  have  felt  with  the  Clays  and  Baldwins  of 
the  west,  and  the  Lowndeses,  the  Tuckers  and  the  Calhouns 
oY  the  south  ,•  they  have  felt  for  the  grandeur  of  the  nation, 
not  for  the  treasury  of  their  own  state,  which  is  amply 
competent  to  every  exigency  of  our  policy,  however  bold  and 
munificent.  Every  doubt  in  relation  to  the  EXPENSE  of 
making  the  Western  Canal  is  now  removed,  and  removed 
ibrcver,  if  indeed  any  heretofore  really  existed. 

The  distance  over  which  the  Canal  is  to  pass,  and  the  im- 
pediments supposed  to  be  connected  with  it,  next  deserve 
consideration. 

In  undertaking  to  open  three  or  four  hundred  miles  of 
Canal,  much  previous  preparation  was  necessary.  The 
New-York  Legislature  made  the  first,  appropriation  for  this 
object,  on  the  15th  April,  1817.  Tile  first  contract  was  da- 
ted on  the  27th  June,  1817,  although  no  labor  was  done  un- 
til the  following  4th  of  July.  Even  after  the  contracts  of 
were  mode,  as  the  contractors  found  their  own  implements  >iai last se*- 

*son. 

and  tools,  some  time  was  requisite  for  proper  arrangements. 
Owing  therefore  to  the  lateness  of  the  season,  and  the  great 
rains  which  inundated  the  country,  embracing  that  part  of 
Hie  Canal  route  for  \vhicli  the  contracts  were  made,  the 
progress  of  the  works  was  much  retarded  at  the  beginning. 
Fifteen  miles  of  the  distance,  were  however  finished  the  last 
season,  and  many  new  contracts  made  'for  the  present  year. 
Considerable  sums  of  money  were  advanced  to  the  contract- 
ors, during  the  last  winter,  that  they  might  he  better  ena- 
bled to  purchase  provisions,  and  prepare  for  the  commence- 
ment of  operations  at  the  opening  of  the  spring.  Although 
rtic  progress  of  the  works  last  season  was  not  astonishingly 
•great,  yet' it  should  not  escape  reflection,  that  much  impor- 
tant information  was  obtained,  by  the  engineers  and  com- 

P 


42 

inissioners.  Some  considerable  saving  in  expense  \vas  alstf 
made.  la  the  articles  including  tools  and  implements,  in 
the  Canal  estimates,  there  was  a  saving  of  S75,000.  It  was 
found  that  Bridges  could  he  erected  for  S350,  instead  of 
S5UO  each,  which  was  the  sum  originally  fixed  upon  in  the 
calculations  ;  and  that  grubbing  and  clearing  uncleared  land, 
could  he  done  for  gl^OO,  instead  of  $1500  per  mile.  These 
deductions  in  the  whole  length  of  the  Canal,  would  create 
no  inconsiderable  diminution  in  the  aggregate  expenditures  j 
and  should  the  estimates  hereafter  be  exceeded  in  other  res- 
peels,  here  will  he  a  counterbalance. 

The  Canal  works  were  resumed  early  the  present  season, 
and  have  been  prosecuted  with  an  energy  and  success,  that 
of  Die  Ca- have  transcended  the  highest  expectations.  Even  the  most 
senueason"  ar(^ent  anl'  sanguine  have  been  disappointed.  Every  cir- 
cumstance and  result  coincides  with  the  former  views  and 
conclusions  of  the  Engineers  and  Commissioners,  excepting 
an  unexpected  ease  and  facility  in  advancing  the  stupendous 
design.  The  Commissioners,  very  properly,  have  first  un- 
dertaken the  completion  of  the  MIDDI.E  SECTION  ;  because 
the  completion  of  this  line,  which  communicates  with  the 
Mohawk,  will  afford  immediate  advantages  on  its  being  fin- 
ished, and  of  itself,  would  stand  the  greatest  work  of  the 
kind  in  the  new  world,  and  rival  the  Canal  of  Languedoc. 
Nearly  four  thousand  men,  with  fifteen  hundred  horses  and 
cattle,  are  now  vigorously  employed  on  this  part  of  the  route. 
"We  feel  warranted  in  asserting  that  the  whole  distance  be- 
tween Utica  and  Seneca  river,  making  not  far  from  ninety 
miles,  will  be  completed  the  present  season.  We  believe, 
that  the  toih  of  December  next,  the  period  at  which  the 
present  contracts  are  to  be  performed,  will  shew  to  the 
world  two  hundred  and  ihirty  miles  of  navigation  into  the 
lioart  of  our  state,  by  means  of  this  middle  section,  and  the 
Mohawk  liivcr  ;  a  channel  of  commercial  intercourse,  that 
traverses  one  of  the  noblest  countries  on  the  face  of  the 
globe,  cultivated  by  a  people  unsurpassed  for  cnterurizc*  in- 


43 

dusfry,  and  intelligence.  This  channel  too,  will  soon  be 
crowded  with  merchandize,  yield  an  annual  revenue  to  the 
state,  that  will  aid  us  in  completing  the  remaining  portion  ol* 
the  Canal,  and  impart  life  and  vigor  to  commerce,  agricul- 
ture, and  manufactures.  Then  will  the  people  begin  to  feel 
the  effects  of  our  policy.  Then  will  they  see  the  giant  ef- 
forts of  a  single  season,  animating  every  species  of  labor, 
bringing  the  energies  of  the  community  into  more  autive 
operation,  and  greatly  enhancing  the  value  of  real  estate. 
Another  season  will  give  the  people  an  earnest  of  that  un- 
paralleled prosperity  that  awaits  them. 

The  season  thus  far,  has  been  peculiarly  favorable,  and 
every  opportunity  is  embraced  to  improve  it.  Experience 
now  fully  proves,  that  the  magnitude  of  the  distance,  over 
which  the  Canal  must  pass,  no  longer  presents  any  discour- 
agement. Such  is  the  favorable  nature  and  quality  of  the 
soil,  that  on  the  middle  section,  for  sixty  miles,  between  Uti-  Favora- 
ca  and  S.ilma,  not  more  than  one  half  mile  will  want  pud- 
diingj  and  even  that  this  half  mile  *.r  ill  want  it,  is  proble- 
matical. When  we  consider  the  expense  of  puddling  in 
England  and  elsewhere,  there  is  much  cause  to  congratulate 
ourselves  on  this  important  fact.  It  has  also  been  ascer- 
tained, by  one  or  more  of  the  Engineers,  that  so.  few  rocks 
arid  stones,  are  found  on  the  whole  extent  of  the  summit 
level,  that  S^OO  \>ill  be  sufficient  to  remove  every  obstacle  of 
the  kind. 

A  fact  worthy  of  much  consideration  has  also  been  ascer- 
tained, respecting  the  ice  in  the  Canal,  at  the  opening  of  the 
spring.  That  part  of  the  Western  Canal,  which  was  fin- 
is ued  last  year,  was  found  to  be  free  of  ice  some  two  or  three 
weeks  sooner  than  the  waters  of  the  Mohawk  River,  or 
those  of  Lake  Oneida  anu  Ontario.  As  this  excited  some 
degree  of  surprise,  enquiries  were  made  touching  the  same 
fact  as  pertaining  to  other  Canals,  and  it  was  found  to  be 
generally,  or  perhaps  universally  the  case.  The  Middlesex 
Canal,  is  found  to  be  clear  of  ice  ten  days  or  two  weeks 


44 

sooner  than  rivers  and  large  bodies  of  water  in  the  vfc 
From  the  most  accurate  observations,  made  by  one  of  the 
Engineers,  upon  tlie  general  breaking  up  of  tTie  waters  ib 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Canal,  he  came  to  the  conclusion? 
that  we  might  uniformly  expect  that  ft  would  open  every 
season,  two  or  three  weeks  sooner  than  the  contiguous  bodies* 
of  water.  This  is  owing  to  Che  numerous  small  springy 
which  ooze  through  the  sides  of  the  Canal,  as  well  as  to  the 
warmth  of  the  sott  acting  upon  an  extended  and  narrow  sur- 
face of  ice, 

Another  circumstance   Is  worthy  of  observation.     Those 
people   who  have  made  contracts  and  performed  them,  arc 
generally  anxious  to  enter  into  new  ones.     The  Commission- 
ers  state  in  their  report  to  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature, 
that  many  applications  had  been  rejected,  on  account  of  the 
Contracts. great  number  received".     One  of  the  Engineers  has  staterfr 
tfrat When  a  section  is  raid  off  and  subject  to  contract,  that 
the  Engineers  are  thronged  with  applications.     In  the  vil- 
lage of  Eldridge,  wher£  a  distance  of '15  miles  was  to  be  Ie4 
out,  there  were  no  less  than  fifteen  applicants   for  the  job, 
each  anxious  to  undertake  to  complete  it.     "What  could  more 
satisfactorily  prove,    that   while  the  expenses  of  the  Canal 
Keep  within  the  estimates  of  the  Commissioners,  the  people 
themselves  grow  rich  by  performing  the  labor  ?  Every  dol- 
lar, paid  out  by  the   Commissioners,  goes  into  the  pockets  of 
the  people,  and  is  retained  among  ourselves.     It  is  not  paid 
to  the  European  or  te  the  East  Indian  manufacturer,  to  swell 
the  history  of  our  luxuries  ;  but  it  is  merely   a  circulation 
of  capital  in  our  own  community,  that  enriches  individuals, 
and   through   their  enterprise,  increases  the  wealth  of  the 
state. 

It  may  afford  satisfaction  to  observe,  tTiat  the  work  thu& 
far  has  been  faithfully  performed,  under  the  immediate  eye 
of  the  Engineers.  No  contracts  are  paid  until  the  works 
are  carefully  inspected,  and  found  unexceptionable,  in  poinfc 
of  execution.  Some  one  of  tlie  Engineers  travels  the  U 


45 

under  contract,  from  one  extremity  to  the  other,  giving  arf 
vice  and  correcting  errors.  Great  credit  is  due  to  them 
for  their  fidelity,  their  talents,  and  unwearied  applica- 
tion. 

Ten  years  were  first  allotted  as  the  period  necessary,  fos 
connecting  the  Hudson  with  the  Lakes.  Less  then  eighteen 
months  from  the  commencement  of  the  works,  will  show  us 
more  than  one  fourth  of  the  whole  Western.  Canal  in  a  fin- 
ished state,  if  the  present  season  continues  favorable.  Mr. 
Briggs  has  already,  made  considerable  progress  in  laying  off" 
the  EASTERN  SECTION,  including,  the  line  from  Albany  to  the 
middle  section  ;  and  no  doubt  remains,  hut  that  long  before 
the  time  shall  have  expired,  which  by  many  was  once  deem- 
ed necessary  to  complete  the  middle  section  alone  ;  our  lvar~ 
dy  yeomanry  will  have  finished  both  the  eastern  and  middle 
sections,  and  show  us  their  excavations  and  the  embank* 
ments,  beyond  the  watrvs  of  the  Genesce  ;  and  thus  fin- 
ishing the  last  link  in  this  mighty  chain  of  inland  naviga* 
tion.* 

*  The  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  one  of  the  first  Civil 
Engineers  in  Europe,  will  shew  what  sentiments  are  entertained 
of  our  Great  Canal  abroad.  It  is  taken  from  a  letter  directed  to 
Gov.  CLINTON,  President  of  the  BOARD  OP  CANAL  COMMISSION- 
ERS, fiom  A.  KINGBORN,  Esq.  of  North  Britain.  SIR  JOSBPH 
BANKS  has  also  recently  made  inquiries  and  expressed  much  ad- 
miration of  our  noble  work. 

EXTRACT. 

"  Sf.  BOSWELL'S  GREEN,  \2th  April,  1818, 
Honored  Sir — Sometime  ago  the  right  honorable  the  EARL  OF^ 
BUCHAN,  most  obligingly  put  into  my  hands,  the  plan,  profiles', 
reports  and  estimates  of  the  proposed  Inland  Navigation,  *from 
Lake  Erie  to  the  Hudson,  and  from  thence  to  Lake  Champlain, 
requesting  my  observations  on  them. 

I  have  attentively  and  with  much  pleasure  examined  the  whole, 
and  from  the  particular  and  minute  description  of  every  part  of 
the  line,  I  have  every  reason  for  believing  that  the,  surveys  have 


46 

And  are  there  any  who  still  doubt  the  practicability 
of  the  Great  Western  Canal  ?  Will  any  one  have  the  pre- 
sumption and  arrogance  to  assert,  that  the  people  of  (he 
state  of  New- York  are  a  weak,  effeminate,  degraded,  race 
of  beings,  incapable  of  exertion,  and  destitute  of  pride,  of 
energy,  of  honorable  sentiments  ?  For  any  one  must  vir- 
tually assert  this,  who  charges  them  with  being  unable  to  ac- 
complish their  plans  of  internal  improvement.  Let  it  be 
remembered,  that  such  is  our  population,  between  eighteen 
and  forty  years  of  age,  that  if  the  whole  Western  Canal 
was  laid  off  to-morrow  in  equal  proportions,  and  a  portion 
assigned  to  each  man,  there  would  6e  but  half  a  rod  for  each 
individual  to  complete,  in  the  course  of  TEN  YEAUS  !  If  we 
have  arrived  at  that  humiliating  stage  of  degeneracy  and  in- 
dolence, that  each  one  of  our  citizens  between  the  age  of  18 
and  40  cannot  make  or  procure  to  be  made,  one  rod  of  Canal 
in  five  years*  or  half  a  rod  in  ten  years,  which  shall  be  40 
feet  wide  and  four  feet  in  width  ;  then  we  may  as  well  for- 
get our  high  standing  in  the  union,  renounce  the  glory  which 
we  won  at  Bridgewater,  at  Plattsburg  and  Erie,  and  take  up 
the  wretched  character  of  the  Gentoos,  or  watch  the  wax- 
ing arid  waning  of  the  moon,  like  the  miserable  inhabitants 
of  the  Pacific  Islands,  and  prepare  for  a  long  and  cheerless 
life  of  ignominy  and  bondage. 

The  Great  Wrestern  Canal  will  be  finished.  It  is  the 
voice  of  the  people  that  declares  it.  If  four  thousand  men 
cannot  advance  the  works  with  sufficient  rapidity,  eight 

been  made  with  due  attention,  and  that  the  choice  of  the  ground 
ihas  been  well  considered. 

In  regard  to  the  estimate  of  the  expense,  and  the  calculation 
of  the  probable  amount  of  the  products  which  may  be  conveyed 
on  thjp  Canals,  and  from  which  must  arise  the  remuneration  to 
the  state,  I  am  incompetent  to  judge — but  from  the  very  lumin- 
ous and  distinct  reports  of  the  Canal  Commissioners,  of  i5th 
February,  and  of  the  joint  committee  of  the  Legislature  of  New- 
York,  dated  1 9th  March,  18 17,  I  cannot  think  these  gentlemen 
at  all  too  sanguine  in  their  expectations  011  this  part  of  the  sub- 
ject." 


47 

Uiousand  can.  If  5,000,000  of  dollars  cannot  deiray  <h« 
expenditures,  £16,000,000  will.  The  state  of  New-York 
will  never  rest,  till  she  sees  the  waters  of  the  Lakes  mingle 
with  the  ocean  that  washes  her  coasts.  Her  interest,  her 
pride,  her  glory  demand  it.  Her  faith  is  pledged,  her  will 
is  spoken,  her  arm  is  put  forth,  and  whoshall  arrest  it  ! 

AVe  should  not  here  forget  the  grateful  tribute  of  respect, 
due  10  those  high  minded  men  who  first  projected  the  Can-<*L 
If  there  is  honor  attached  to  the  character  of  national  ben- 
efactors, they  will  hereafter  receive  it,  in  the  enthusiastic 
recollection  of  a  magnanimous  people.  Of  those  who  par- 
ticipated in  the'  conception  of  the  design,  and  hastened  the 
commencement  of  its  execution  ;  some  have  passed  o-.  the 
stage  of  existence,  hefore  its  success  was  tested  hy  experi- 
ence, while  others  remain,  to  advance  its  accomplishment* 
and  receive  in  the  expression  of  public  sentiment,  the  just 
appreciation  of  their  services.  We  must  record  the  names 
of  LIVINGSTON,  MOKRIS,  and  FULTON,  among  its  departed 
patrons  and  projectors.  Their  sun  has  set  ;  but  the  star  of 
their  mmortaiity  has  arisen,  and  expands  its  lustre  amid 
the  luminaries  of  ages. 

Having  presented  our  views  of  this  cardinal  object  of  our 
present  physical  exertions,  so  deeply  interesting  to  our  pride 
and  our  interests,  and  so  important  to  the  welfare  of  poster- 
it^  ;  we  shall  conclude  our  remarks,  by  some  reference  to 
the  works  of  other  nations  of  a  similar  nature,  and  the 
lessons  of  wisdom  which  we  should  draw  from  their  experi- 
ence. 

The  Great  Western  Canal  will  hereafter  be  viewed  as  a 
NATIONAL  WORK,  and  as  the  greatest  national  work,  of 
the  kind,  that  this  or  any  other  country  will  ever  produce, 
although  undertaken  and  finished  by  the  state  of  New-York 
alone — :So  it  is  now  considered  in  Europe.  Our  closing  ob- 
sotfVations  will  therefore  be  national. 

ff  We  are  yet  a  young   nation  and  have  scarcely    begun   to 
act  on  the  high  theatre  of  empires.    Before  us  is  the  volume 


thousand  years.  Before  us  are  the  rise  and  ruin  of 
states,  their  march  in  civilization,  their  various  forms  of 
government,  their  laws,  policy,  ami  manners.  From  these 
venerable  stores  of  antiquity,  from  these  deep  fountains  of 
knowledge  and  experience,  in  the  conduct  of  nations,  it  be- 
comes us  to  draw  the  richest  lessons  of  instruction. 

Not  only  have  we  a  vast  and  fertile  country  to  receive  and 
repay  o«r  efforts  in  industry  and  enterprise  ;  hut  we  also 
Our  ca- have  another  advantage  peculiar  to  ourselves.  Other  na- 
Slou.dS  cl  tions,  distinguished  on  the  roll  of  fame,  have  wasted  the 
earlier  part  of  their  history,  in  emerging  from  a  savage 
state.  They  have  waded  through  t)ne  revolution  after  anoth- 
er, unlil  the  lire  which  threatened  to  consume,  left  them 
cleansed  ami  purified.  But  it  is  the  fortune  of  the  Ameri- 
can republic,  to  commence  her  career  in  a  new  world,  with 
all  the  ambition  and  foresight,  incident  to  a  high  state  of  civ- 
ilization. We  have  nt>  mountains  of  ignorance  to  roll  away, 
m>  pillare  of  superstition  to  break  down,  no  monuments  of 
barbarism  to  demolish.  We  have  a  greater  mass  of  intel- 
ligence in  the  American  community,  than  is  possessed  by 
any  other  nation  on  the  face  of  the  universe.  The  gates  of 
knowledge  are  thrown  open,  and  the  paths  to  which  they 
lead,  wider  than  the  eye  can  extend.  Our  government  is 
every  way  calculated  to  call  forth  and  protect  the  collective 
and  individual  energies  of  the  people  and  Je'ad  them  to  new 
species  of  industry  and  improvement/^!  population  and 
in  national  wealth,  ^we  are  increasing  on  a  ratio,  that  will 
hereafter  be  presented  to  the  world,  without  a  parallel.* — 

*  Calculations  have  been  made,  that  if  our  population  should 
increase  for  years  to  come,  in  the  same  ratio,  that  it  has  for  the 
last  century,  the  following  would  be  the  result  : 

In     1820  we  should  have  10,098,177 

1830  -  13,769,726 

1340  -       18,769,567 

1850  -  -      25,582,919 

5860          -          -          .          -          -          -      34,869.529 


! 


49 

**  Population,"  says  an  elegant  aucl  inleresmg  writer,^  "  15 
connected  with  national  wealth,  and  liberty,  and  personal 
security  are  the  great  foundations  of  both  ;  and  if  this  foun- 
dation is  laid  in  the  stale,  nature  has  secured  the  increase 
and  industry  of  its  members  ,•  the  one  by  desires,  the  most 
ardent  in  the  human  frame,  the  other  by  a  consideration, 
the  most  uniform  and  consistent  of  any  that  possesses  the 
mind."  With  these  advantages,  should  we  not  look  upon 
»ther  nations,  and  embrace  those  objects  of  policy,  which 
they  have  found  intimately  interwoven  with  their  happiness 
and  prosperity  ? 

What  then  has  contributed  most  largely  to  national  hap- 
piness, within  the   scope   and  operation  of  human  govern- 
ments ?     Has  it  been  war,  covering  the  earth  with  a  sea  of 
blood,  or  has  it   been  the  promotion  of  peace  and  industry, 
and  the   encouragement  of  all   the  useful  arts  in  life,  that 
subserve  the  exigencies  of  nations,  and  the  wants  of  individ-      Sources 
uals  ?     Certain  it  is,  that  the  historians  of  every  age,  have  happi 
pointed  out  those  eras  of  mankind,  as  the   most  happy  and 
enviable,  which  have  exhibited  the  greatest  degree  of  im- 
provement in  the  useful  arts  of  life-^lt  is  commerce,  agri- 
culture, and  manufactures  ;  it  is  tlraarts  aad  sciences,  com- 
bined with  humane  and  benevolent  institutions,  forming  one 
great  system  of  national  policy,  and  resting  on  the  broad  ba- 
sis of  national  freedom,  that  forms  those  memorable  and  il- 
lustrious epochs   in   the  annals  of  the  world,  on  which  the 

1870         -  -         -         -  47,527,165 

1880  -  -  64,779,525 

1890  -  ^      88,294,493 

1900  -          -  *    120,345,394 

This  ratio  certainly  falls  rather  below  the  standard  of  rational 
calculation,  when  we  reflect  on  the  immense  tide  of  emigration 
pouring  into  our  country,  in  addition  to  the  increase  of  our  num- 
bers. 

*  Ferguson  on  Civil  Society. 


50 

historian*  (he  philosopher,   the  poet,  and  (he  philanthropist 
delight  to  dwell.     They  stand  like  mountains,  covered  with 
eternal  verdure,  in  the  dreary  wastes  of  the  desert^"  If  we 
advert  to  fact/'  says  an  intelligent  writer,  *«  and/^onsult  the 
records  of  history  with  regard  to  the  state  of  different  na- 
tions, we  shall  (ind  that  civilization  and  commerce  have  very 
much  depended  on  the  facility  with  which  the  inhabitants  of 
remote  districts  have  maintained  intercourse  with  one  anoth 
er*  as  well  as  with  distant  countries.     As  the  ocean  serves  to 
connect  distant  countries  $    navigable  rivers  and  canals  unite 
the  different  provinces  and  districts  of  the  same  country  $ 
and  as  navigation,  by  means  of  the  ocean,  produces  an  inter- 
course and  mutual  exchange  of  productions  between  the  dif- 
ferent kingdoms  and   nations  ;    inland   navigation,  in   like 
manner,  facilitates  a  communication  between  different  parts 
of  the  same  kingdom  or  nation,  and  consequently  promotes 
civilization,  trade  and  industry.     On  the  other  hand,  those 
nations  who  have  been  destitute  of  the  means  of  inland  nav- 
igation, either  by  rivers  or  canals,  have  remained  from  one- 
age  to  another  in  the  same  barbarous  and  uncivilized  state. 
The  observation  is  exemplified  in  the  state  of  all  the  inland 
parts  of  Africa,  and  of  that  part  of  Asia,  which  lies  at  any- 
considerable  distance  north  of  the  Euxine  and  Caspian  sea, 
and  ancient  Scythia,  and  the  modern  Tartary  Siberia.*" 

If  commerce,  agriculture  and  manufactures,  and  the  use- 
ful and  refined  arts  of  life,  are  so  important  to  the  welfare 
and  happiness  of  mankind  j  and  if  these  blessings  are  so 
immediately  dependent  on  a  chain  of  internal  intercourse^ 
by  rivers,  roads  and  canals ;  the  conclusion  is  strong,  that 
such  intercourse  is  vitally  essential  to  the  welfare  of  nations. 
If  the  history  too  of  the  most  civilized  ages  of  the  world 
enforce  this  conclusion,  the  dictates  which  it  carries  with 
it,  are  still  more  imperious.  Let  us  turn  to  facts  and  evi- 
dence. 

i 
*  Ree's  Enclo.  Art.  Canal, 


51 

Chaldeans  and  the  Babylonians,  had  sufficient  diseei'ii- 
meat  to  see  ihe  importance  ot*  canal  communications.  They 
took  the  waters  of  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates  and  carried  othecoun 
them  throughout  the  regions  of  their  fertile  country.  Eventrics' 
ancient  writers  go  so  far  as  to  assert,  that  they  actually  di- 
vided the  river  Euphrates  in  one  place,  and  presented  this 
gi^eat  column  of  water,  in  two  channels.  The  ancient  peo- 
ple of  India,  also  had  the  sagacity  to  see  the  advantages  of 
such  improvements.  They  had  one  canal  of  one  hundred 
miles  in  length,  and  by  some  it  is  supposed  to  have  been  the 
partial  execution  of  a  plan  to  unite  the  Indus  with  the  Gan- 
ges. Notwithstanding  the  mouths  of  these  two  vast  rivers 
are  1500  miles  from  each  other,  their  sources  approach  the 
same  tract  of  country,  and  would  meet  if  extended  a  little 
further  west,  in  the  same  converging  direction.  The  re-  Those  o* 
mains  of  geveral  other  works  of  the  kind  are  found;  butAs 
they  remain  as  the  almost  obliterated  ruins  of  former  mag- 
nificence. The  early  history  of  India  is  lost  in  fable,  and 
nothing  but  a  fuinl  and  fading  beam  of  her  ancient  opulence 
and  glory  remains.  Not  so  with  Egypt.  She  stands  iu  ru- 
ins, but  the  evidences  of  her  former  grandeur  exist.  No 
country  in  ancient  times  excelled  Egypt  in  civilization,  and 
all  the  branches  of  useful  industry.  Egypt,  \ve  are  told, 
had  above  six  thousand  miles  of  canal  navigation,  which 
traversed  eve  17  part  of  her  renowned  and  delightful  king- 
dom. She  connected  the  Nile  with  the  Red  Sea,  by  a  canal 
of  150  miles  long,  two  hundred  feet  wide  and  navigable  for  Egypt, 
ihe  largest  ships.  This  one  canal  gave  her  the  commerce 
of  Persia,  India  and  Arabia,  and  the  kingdoms  of  the  Afri- 
«a«  coast  j  and  again  enabled  her  to  scatter  the  fruits  of  her 
commerce  to  all  the  nations  bordering  on  the  Mediterrane- 
an. Rollin  tells  us,  in  his  ancient  history,  that  "  the  villa- 
ges which  stood  thick  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile  eminences, 
had  each  their  canals."  According  to  an  ancient  traveller, 
the  banks  of  the  largest  canals  were  crowded  with  cities, 
towns  and  villas,  or  robed  in  perennial  verdure,  interspersed 
with  groves  and  vineyards,  and  embellished  with  all  that  art 


52 

and  taste  could  invent,  to  heighten  the  luxuriant  and  £n~ 
chanting  scenery.  The  internal  trade  of  Egypt,  at  the  most 
prosperous  stage  of  her  history,  was  indeed  -astonishing  for 
its  extent,  and  her  foreign  commerce  was  not  less  so,  consid- 
ering the  age  in  which  she  flourished.  There  are  many  cu- 
rious remains  of  former  canals  in  Greece  ;  but  none  of  any 
Greece,  extraordinary  magnitude  can  be  traced  out  in  the  face  of 
the  country.  A  great  canal  was  contemplated  to  pass 
through  the  Isthmus  that  divides  the  lonion  and  JSgean 
seas,  and  connect  their  waters.  \Vars  and  caprice,  so  inci- 
dent to  the  fortunes  of  this  interesting  portion  of  the  globe-, 
blasted  the  grand  design.  Here  we  will  leave  the  ancient 
and  come  to  the  modern  nations — saying  nothing  of  the  Ro- 
mans, who  chose  rather  to  promote  what  trade  they  encour- 
aged by  roads,  than  by  canals.* 

*  Gibbon  observes,  that  "  all  the  cities  of  the  Roman  empire., 
were  connected  \vith  each  other  and  with  the  capital,  by  the  pub- 
lic highways,  which,  issuing  from  the  Forum  of  Rome,  traversed 
Italy,  pervaded  the  Provinces,  and  were  terminated  only  by  the 
frontiers  of  the  empire.  If  we  carefully  trace  the  distance  from 
the  wall  of  Antonius  to  Rome,  and  from  thence  to  Jerusalem, 
it  will  be  found  that  the  great  chain  of  communication  from  the 
northwest  to  the  southeast  point  of  the  empire,  was  drawn  out  to 
the  length  of  4,880  Roman  miles.*  The  public  roads  were  ac- 
curately divided  by  mile  stones,  and  ran  in  a  direct  line  from 
one  city  to  another,  with  little  respect  for  the  obstacles  either  of 
nature  or  personal  property.  Mountains  were  perforated,  and 
bold  arches  thrown  over  the  broadest  and  most  rapid  streams, 
The  middle  part  of  the  road  was  raised  into  a  terrace  which 
commanded  the  adjacent  country,  consisted  of  several  strata  of 
sand,  gravel  and  cement,  and  was  paved  with  large  stones,  or  in 
some  places  near  the  capital  with  granite.  Such  was  the  solid 
foundations  of  the  Roman  highways,  whose  firmness  has  nfct  en- 
tirely yielded  to  the  effect  of  1 5  centuries-"— Decline  and  Fall 
Human  Empire,  vol.  1 . 

When  we  consider  that  the  Roman  empire,  at  this  period,  ein> 

*  3,740  English  miles. 


53 

"We    shall  begin  with   China,  although  if  we   consult  fief 
own  chronology,  with  any  faith  in  its  accuracy,  she   would 
not  only  he  ranked  as  a  modern,  hut  also,  as  the  most  ancient 
of  nations.     No  kingdom  in  the  world  excels  China   for  ca- 
nal navigation,  excepting  Holland,   and  perhaps  even  Hol- 
land in  proportion  to  her  size,  does  not  go  hefore  her.     She 
has  a  large  or  principal  canal  running  through  every  prov- 
ince,  and  scarcely,  a   village  or  town  can  he  found,  without 
the  advantages  of  a  canal   or  an  arm  of  the  sea.     She  hag 
a  canal  navigation  from  one  end  of  the  kingdom  to  the  other,    china 
with  only  one  slight  interruption,  making  a  distance  of  1800 
miles.     The  "  Great  Canal"  ran  from  north  to  south,  em- 
bracing the  cities  of  Canton  and   Pekin,  and  according  to 
some   writers  is  825   miles  long,  while  others  make  it  1200 
miles.     It  is  50   feet  wide,  passes  through   4-1  large  cities, 
and  is  supposed  to  have  ten  thousand  vessels  constantly  em- 
ployed upon  it.     In  the  southern  provinces  of  China,   there 
is  a  vast  canal,  passing  through  a  large  tract  of  country, 
one  hundred  feet  wide.     On  this  canal,  it  is  said,  there  are 
at  some  periods,  from  three  to  four  hundred  boats  at   one 
time,  in  a  single  fleet.     Small  canals   branch  out  from  the 
large   ones,   and  the  whole  present  a  wonderful  system   of 
internal  trade,  unequalled  on  the  face  of  the  globe.    «  The 
home  market  of  China,"  says  Adam  Smith,  "  is  perhaps  in 
extent,  not  much  inferior  to   the  market  of  all  the  different 
countries  of  Europe  put  together:"  and  Mr.  Phillips   oh- 
serves,  in  his  «  History  of  Inland  Navigation,"  to  which  ad- 
mirable work  we  are  indebted  for  a  great  part  of  the  facts 
on  this  part  of  our  subject,  «  That  China  owes  a  great  part 
of  her  riches  and  fertility  to  these  numerous  canals,  which 
are  of  the  greatest  utility,  for  the  transportation  of  the  pro- 
duce and  merchandise  of  one  province  to  another."     Such 
is  her  attention  to  canals,  that  they  arc  conducted  through 

braced  an  extent  of  sixteen  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  and 
a  population  of  120,000,000,  who  but  must  wonder  and  admire  ! 


54 

gardens,  groves,  and  pleasure  grounds,  and  even  the  Empe- 
ror's domains  rest  under  no  exemption. 

From  China  we  pass  to  Europe,   and  begin  with   Spain* 
who  has  made  some  improvements  in  canal  navigation,  and 
projected  many  hold  undertakings,  which  (he  defects  of  her 
government,  the  degraded  state  of  her  people,  and  the  cor- 
ruption and  inertness  of  her  ministers  have  defeated.     Had 
the  millions  of  her  own  subjects,  who  have  been  sacrificed 
in  the   mines  and  butcheries  of  Soulh  America,  been  devo- 
ted to  objects  of  domestic  improvement ;  we  might  now  pre- 
sent her  as  a  far  more  gratifying  spectacle  of  internal   hap- 
piness and  prosperity.     The  two  canals  which  commence  in 
Navarre  and  terminate  in  the  Ebro,  have  been  productive  of 
great   advantage.       <*  The  province  of  Arragon  (through 
which  Iliey  pass)  is  already  planted  with  thousands  of  olive 
and  other  trees  :  the  cities  and  towns  which  formerly  were 
condemned  (»  drought  and  scarcity,  arc  now   supplied  with 
fish  and  water  by  these  canals."     A  canal  has  also  been  com- 
menced,   which  is  to  begin  forty-eight  miles  north-west   of 
Madrid,  and  extend  until  it  strikes  a  canal  leading  from  the 
Mediterranean  to  the  Atlantic  ocean.     It  is  called  the  canal 
of  Castillo,  and  will  be  420  miles  long  when  finished.     Sixty 
miles  have   been  completed  ;  but  it  is  not  probable   that  a 
king  whose  boldest  efforts  consist  in  the  restoration  of  the 
Inquisition,  will  think  of  completing  the   splendid    design, 
worthy  of  the  reign  of  Charles  5th.     Some  other  canals  of 
minor  consequence  have  been  made  in  Spain,  and  others  pro- 
jected.    Enough  has  been  done  to  show  their  importance,  as 
well  as   the  degraded  state  of  the   Spanish  kingdom,   that 
permits  them  to  remain  unfinished  and  go  to  ruin.* 

*  "  Spain/'  says  Mr.  Vattel,  u  is  the  most  fertile  country  in 
Europe,  but  the  worst  cultivated."  He  might  have  added,  that 
in  the  times  of  the  Moors  and'  Goths,  she  is  said  to  have  sustain- 
ed 30,000,000  people,  and  now,  in  her  civilization,  she  cannot 
support  one  third  that  number.  O  !  the  effects  of  bigotry  and 
priestcraft  .' 


France  has  made  many  noble  improvements  in  canal  nav 
igation,  and  nearly  rivals  England  and  Holland.     She  has 
about  thirty  canals  and  2000  miles  of  canal  navigation.     At 
the  commencement  of  the  reign   of  Napoleon,  twenty  other 
canals  were  projected,  which,  according  to  the  calculation  ot 
the  Engineers,   must    have  passed  over  a  distance  of  500 
miles  more.     How  far  these  works  were  advanced  during 
the  wars,  conquests,  and  military  adventures  of  the  ex-em- 
peror, we  are  not  able  to  say.     The  canal  of  Languedoc,  re- 
ferred to  in  the  first  part  of  our  considerations,  is  among  the 
most  remarkable   canals  of  the  world.     It  was   begun  and 
finished  in  sixteen  years,  under  the  patronage  of  Louis  14th. 
It  reaches  from  Narbonne  to  Thoulouse,  has  Unlocks,  is 
iii  feet  wide,  including  the  towing  paths,  and  connects  the 
Atlantic   and   Mediterranean.     It  passes   720   feet  under  a 
liill,  and  cost  82,397,600.     Its  length  is  nearly  200  miles. 
The  completion  of  this  great  work,  so  honorable  to  the 
prince,  the  country  and  the  age,  is  productive  of  benefits  that 
baffle  calculation. 

To  treat  in  detail  of  the  Canals  of  Holland,  would  be  a 
task  almost  as  great  as  the  compilation  of  her  history.  One 
third  of  this  extraordinary  country  has  been  reclaimed  from 
the  ocean,  and  there  was  a  day  when  her  internal  and  ex- 
ternal trade,  gave  her  the  command  of  the  maritime  world.  __ 

Holland. 

Her  canals  are  as  common  as  her  roads,  and  instead  of 
coaches  and  chariots,  her  nobility  themselves,  pass  by  pleas- 
ure boats,  in  making  their  tours  of  diversion  through  the 
country.  No  nation  on  the  globe  can  equal  Holland  for  the 
relative  extent  and  utility  of  canal  navigation. 

We  have  before  adverted  to  the  inland  trade  of  England. 
She  has  240  canals,  making  3000  miles  of  artificial  naviga- 
tion. She  has  made  1000  miles  of  canal  during  the  last 
60  years.  Such  is  the  importance  of  these  improvements, 
in  the  estimation  of  the  British  government,  that  we  find  no 
less  than  161  statutes  passed  for  their  promotion  and  regula- 
tion. The  trade  of  England  is  too  well  known,  to  occupy 


56 

any  portion  of  our  remarks.  She  is  the  greatest  comniet" 
eial  power  that  ever  existed,  and  has  found  her  canal  navi- 
gation of  the  Jast  consequenee  to  her  commercial  prosperity, 
Mr.  Phillips  has  written  a  history  of  her  canals,  containing 
about  500  pages. 

Sweden  and  Denmark  have  made  some  improvements  in 
this  species  of  navigation.  The  Swedish  government,  some 
Jcars  ag°>  projected  a  canal  to  unite  the  Baltic  and  German 
ocean.  The  works  have  heen  commenced  hut  not  completed. 
It  was  intended  to  guard  the  foreign  commerce  of  Sweden 
against  the  depredations  of  the  Danes  and  other  powers* 
In  Denmark,  a  canal  has  heen  projected  and  commenced, 
which  is  intended  to  unite  the  Baltic  with  the  Northern  Sea. 

Denmark  *l  *s  to  ^e  27  u"^es  long*  100  feet  wide,  10  feet  deep,  and 
navigable  for  vessels  of  120  tons  burthen.  A  part  of  it  is 
already  finished,  and  wants  but  enterprize  to  be  comple- 
ted. 

We  shall  conclude  by  noticing  the  canals  of  Russia.— • 
When  Peter  the  Great  returned  to  his  Court,  from  Holland, 
his  mind  was  fully  impressed  with  the  importance  of  inland 
navigation,  from  viewing  the  example  of  the  Dutch.  He 
therefore  projected  the  most  stupendous  plans  of  internal 
improvements.  He  intended  to  unite  the  Black  Sea  with 
the  Baltic  }  the  Baltic  with  the  White  Sea  j  the  Caspian 
Sea  also  with  the  Baltic  ;  and  lastly,  the  Caspian  with  the 

Russia.  jjlack  Sea.  Take  the  map  of  Hussia  and  you  may  view  the 
extent  and  grandeur  of  tfcese  mighty  plans.  Many  smaller 
communications  were  also  contemplated  coeval  with  these. 
Peter  died  like  Hercules,  in  the  midst  of  his  giant  works  $ 
but  his  plans  have  been  followed,  to  a  great  extent,  and  no 
doubt  will  be  finally  executed.  The  Caspian  and  the  Baltic 
have  been  joined  by  a  canal  communication,  and  Petersburg, 
the  centre  of  canal  conveyance,  is  now  a  vast  emporium  of 
commerce.  Russia  has  many  important  canals,  which  we 
cannot  designate  here.  Through  two  of  her  largest  chan- 
nels, S,M2  vessels  pass  in  a  single  year.  From  the  frontiers 


57 

of  China  to  the  Gulph  of  Finland,  she  has  4,592  miles  oi 
internal  navigation,  ttith  the  exception  of  sixty  miles  port- 
age. From  the  city  of  Astrachan  on  the  shores  of  the 
Caspian,  "flic  has  a  direct  navigation  to  Petersburg,  passing 
a  space  of  1,43k  miles.  Here  is  enough  to  show  the  char- 
acter of  the  Russian  policy.  It  is  the  internal  and  foreign 
commerce  of  Russia,  that  has  rescued  her  froui  the  state  of 
the  neighboring  Tartars  and  Scythians,  and  given  her  a 
proud  rank  among  the  empires  of  the  earth.* 

Here  is  a  slight  index  to  the  policy  of  other  nations. — 
Shall  we  deem  it  worthy  of  an  extensive  and  decided  adop- 
lion  ?  Here  is  no  place  to  point  out,  in  detail,  the  local  ad- 
Vantages  of  the  United  States  for  canal  navigation.  It  was 
done  with  ability  in  the  report  of  Mr.  Gallalin  in  1807,  and 
will  probably  again  be  done  by  Mr.  Crawford,  in  his  report; 
at  the  approaching  session  of  Congress.  //To  every  persoii 
of  the  most  partial  observation,  it  is  evjd^ht  that  no  country 
in  the  world,  ever  presented  natural  advantages  for  internal 
trade  arid  ftwal  navigation,  so  bold,  so  noble*/ so  striking  as 
oui-  o\vn.  /At  has  been  said  with  propriety,  *  that  the  United 
States  might  be  rendered  a  great  cluster  of  Islands,"  by  ar- 
tificial channels  of  conveyance.  Look  at  the  streams  which 
swell  our  Lakes  on  the  north,  and  to  the  Lakes  themselves ; 
!ook  at  the  noble  rivers  that  roll  into  the  ocean  along  our 
seaboard,  and  the  tributary  floods  that  mingle  with  thv  Mis^ 
sissippi  on  the  west  $  trace  out  the  sources  and  directions  of 
these  waters,  and  you  behold  the  grandest  theatre  for  inter- 
nal improvements,  that  nature  ever  formed  in  the  beneficent 
majesty  of  her  works.  Shall  we  suffer  these  ba'.ural  advan- 
tages to  remain  unimproved  ?  Shall  we,  like  Spain,'  makef 
such  exertions  as  show  the  importance  Of  their  continuance,1 
and  then  suffer  our  streams  to  roll  on  like  the  Ebroj  the 
Guadalquiver,  the  Tagus  and  the  Duero,  unimproved  by  ther 
creative  arm  of  industry  ?  When  we  look  at  the  face  of  our 

*  Vide  Cox's  Travels  and  Tookc's  view  of  Russia,  &c.. 

H 


eittii!tr,t  j  when  we  see  her  embracing  all  tlie  climates  ahfi 
all  the  soils  of  the  globe,  with  resources  whose  improve- 
ment would  enable  us  to  sustain  five  hundred  million  of  pee- 
pie ;  when  we  consider  the  nature  of  our  civil  institutions, 
and  the  character  and  discernment  of  our  citizens  ;  when 
we  recollect  that  in  commercial  enterprise,  we  have  already- 
supplanted  Spain,  Portugal  and  Holland  in  the  ranges  of 
their  trade*  and  that  we  can  challenge  England  to  a  com- 
petition $#  and  lastly,  when  we  reflect  to  what  an  incalcula- 
ble degree  internal  navigation  throughout  our  country,  would 
aid  this  commerce  ;  cannot,  and  will  not  indulge  a  singhs 
disheartening  apprehension. 

Another  consideration  gives  us  the  most  animating  satis- 
faction — we  mean  the  lively  interest  which  the  American 
people  are  now  taking  throughout  the  union  in  the  opening  of 
roads  and  canal*.  For  ten  years  past,  the  spirit  for  Internal 
Improvements  has  been  gathering  strength.  Let  it  continue? 
and  fifty  years  will  show  the  world  an  inland  trade  in  North 
America,  only  exceeded  in  extent  by  that  of  China.  We 
cannot  here  forego  the.  pleasure  of  expressing  our  gratifica- 
tion, at  the  very  liberal  sentiments  which  appear  in  every 
quarter  of  the  nation,  concerning  the  GREAT  WESTERN  CA- 
NAL. The  public  journals  and  gazettes  have  mentioned  its 
progress  with  every  mark  of  admiration  and  patriotism.—* 

*  The  last  number  of  the  Edinburgh  Review,  has  an  interest- 
ing article  concerning  the  India  Trade.  Among  other  things, 
It  is  stated  that  America  is  supplanting  England  in  this  com- 
merce j..  that  she  supplies  the  markets  of  the  continent  70  per 
cent  cheaper  in  some  articles  ;  makes  her  voyages  shorter,  and 
lias  now  12^000  tons  of  shipping  in  this  trade — two  thirds  as 
much  as  England,  who  has  1 8,000  tons.  Now  all  this  is  the  truth, 
but  hot  the  whole  truth  :  for  be  it  known  to  the  gentlemen  of  the 
Edinburgh  Review  that  instead  of  12,000  tons;  we  have  at  least 
25,000  tons  of  shipping  in  the  East  India  trade.  The  single  port 
of  New-York  alone,  is  supposed  to  have  10,000  tons  of  shipping 
in  this  commerce.  Well  may  the  blind  begin  to  see  ! 


59 

is  attention,   liberality  and  respect,  we  shall  always  feel 
proud  to  return  to  other  parts  of  the  country. 

One  thing  we  would  here  recommend,  as  an  important 
auxiliary  in  the  promotion  of  our  designs  in  this  respect— 
that  coiiREspoNpiNQ  ASSOCIATIONS  be  established  in  every 
State  of  the  Union,  to  ascertain,  from  time  to  time,  the  state, 
progress  and  practicability  of  internal  improvements 
throughout  the  country.  J^et  these  societies  correspond 
with  each  other,  extend  and  interchange  all  useful  intelli- 
gence, and  occasionally  imbody  {information  and  Jay  it  be- 
fore the  people.  It  is  an  important  consideration,  to  know 
ourselves,  Such  an  association  has  been  formed  in  the  city 
of  Xew-York,  under  the  patronage  of  our  present  Chief 
Magistrate,  combining  men  of  the  first  respectability  an<J 
talents* 

Our  advancement  in  improvements  must  be  two  fold,-^ 
First,  the  states  will  look  to  themselves,  bring  forth  their 
respective  resources,  and  apply  their  surplus  revenue  to  obr 
jecls  of  utility.  Secondly,  the  National  Government  must 
soon  feel  the  necessity  of  cultivating  tfye  resources  of  the 
nation,  on  a  great  national  scale. 

Finally,  we  see  no  clouds  hanging  over  our  national  pros- 
pects. It  depends  upon  ourselves,  whether  we  shall  eclipse 
the  grandeur  of  European  nations,  by  seeking  elevation  in 
the  wise  jmprovement  of  our  own  resources,  unconnected 
with  any  thing  like  the  pride,  the  folly  and  the  corruption  of 
kings  and  their  courts.  True  national  greatness  must  rest 
on  the  happiness  of  the  people,  guarded  by  magnanimity 
and  honor.  It  is  not  by  military  exploits,  that  nations  earn  . 
the  proudest  page  on  the  records  of  immortality,  It  is  not 
by  spreading  desolation,  and  scattering  the  seeds  of  hqman 
misery,  that  they  are  entitled  to  the  smiles  of  Providence,  or 
the  encomiums  of  posterity.  AVe  read  of  the  victorious 
march  of  Sesostris,  \>hile  he  laid  waste  the  plains  of  Asia 
with  six  hundred  thousand  men,  with  no  other  sensation  than 
that  of  involuntary  indignation  at  his  cruelty  j  but  our  *<! 


60 

'jniratton  is  excited,  and  we  pall  (he  Egyptioiis  a  great  peo- 
ple, when  \ve  see  them  connect  the  Nile  with  the  Red  Sea* 
and  command,  by  one  master  stroke  of  policy,  the  commerce 
of  the  oriental  world.  While  the  triumphal  arches  erected 
to  the  victories  of  Louis,  the  14th,  have  passed  away  as  the 
shadows  of  a  dream,  and  his  military  adventures  gotoswel? 
the  melancholy  page  of  human  folly  ;  the  canal  Of  Lan- 
guedoc  will  commemorate  his  dynasty,  as  a  brilliant  era  in 
the  history  of  France,  and  hand  down  his  name,  covered 
with  a  fadeless  lustre,  to  the  latest  eppeh  of  civilization. 
And  while  we  view  the  actions.,  and  study  the  genius  of  Pe- 
ter the  Great,  we  forget  the  frosty  laurels  gathered  in  his 
winter  campaigns,  >yhen  we  strike  upon,  his  design  to  unite 
the  Caspian  with  the  European  seas.  We  hope  that  our 
country  will  look  for  a  permanent  glory,  that  shall  be  kin- 
filed  on  the  altar  of  public  good,  and  spread  the  light  of  its 
blaze  amid  the  vicissitudes  an$  revolutions  of  time.  Her 
military  reno,wn  should  rest  on  the  victorious  defence  of  her 
shores,  and  her  freedom,  and  her  national  fame  be  insepara- 
ble from  objects  of  national  utility.  And  when  foreigners 
shall  cross  the  qcean  to  visit  pur  shores,  if  we  cannot  point 
them  to  spots  like  Blenheim.  Leipsjc,  and  Waterloo  ;  may 
>ve  show  them  the  monuments  of  a  nation's  greatness,  around 
which  the  imprecations  of  posterity  will  not  gather,  as  thej 
ftnite  {hem.  with  their  chains  anc}  curse  their  founders  1 


THE 

NORTHERN  CANAL, 

yROM    TJ1E 

HUDSON  TO  LAKE  CHAMpLAIN, 


8UCH  is  the  attention  which  the  Great  Western  Canal 
continually  engrosses,  and  such  the  curiosity  and  interest 
which  it  excites,  that  ail  minor  objects  of  policy  seem  lost  in 
the  glare  of  this  magnificent  design.  But  little  has  been 
said  of  the  Northern  Canal,  which  is  to  connect  the  Hudson 
with  Lake  Champlain,  although  five  years  ago  it  would  have 
commanded  much  attention,  and  been  viewed  with  lively 
considerations  as  a  great  undertaking.  As  this  canal  is  t<? 
have  an  immediate  connexion  with  the  Western  Canai,  and 
thus  in  a  short  time  open  a  communication  from  the  waters 
of  the  Champlain  to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Missouri,  it  ought  npt  to  l>e  omitted  in  our  views  of  the  in- 
ternal navigation  of  our  state. 

We  will  indulge  in  a  comprehensive  view  of  its  lengtli, 
expense  and  future  adrantages. 

When  the  Canal  Commissioners  in  company  with  their 
Engineers,  explored  the  route  pf  the  Northern  Canal,  they 


62 

frund  the  soil  to  admit  of  two  lines,  over  which  it  might 
pass  without  any  formidable  obstacle.  The  first  would  be 
twenty-two  miles  in  length,  commencing  at  the  mouth  of 
Fort  Edward  Creek,  following  the  ravine  of  Wood  Creek, 
Ten  thof*°  Whitehall.  The  second  would  commense  six  miles  fur- 
the  Canal,  therdown  the  Hudson,  at  the  mouth  of  Moses-Kill,  and  ex- 
tend by  the  natural  channels  of  this  Kill,  Dead  Creek  and 
"Wood  Creek  to  Whitehall.  The  former  route  would  make 
the  Canal  twenty  miles  long  ;  the  latter  will  lengthen  the 
distance  six  miles,  and  make  the  Canal  twenty-six  miles  in 
length.  The  former  route  as  it  appears  from  the  last  report 
of  the  Canal  Commissioners  to  the  New-York  Legislature, 
has  been  preferred.* 

It  has  been,  thought  proper  to  increase  the  dimensions  of 
the  Northern  Canal  and  make  it  as  large  as  the  Canal  from 
.  the  Hudson  to  Erie — 40  feet  wide  on  the  water-surface,  28 
j-eet  at  the  bottom,  and  the  depth  of  water  4  feet ;  the 
length  of  a  lock  90  feet,  and  its  width  12  feet  in  the  clear. 
So  reasonable  and  correct  were  the  original  estimates,  that 
even  this  increase  of  its  dimensions  will  make  no  increase  in 
the  expense.  We  shall,  therefore,  qupte  the  original  calcu- 
lations.! 

The  expense  of  the  Northern  Canal,  from  Fort  Edward 
to  Whitehall,  is  estimated  at  §250,000.     Whether  it  should 
c' commence  at  Fort  Edward  Creek  or  Moses-Kill,  would  cre- 
ate no  essential  disparity  jn  the  expense. 

When  the  waters  of  Champlajn  shall  be  thus  united  with 
the  Hudson,  it  is  proposed  stiU  further  to  improve  our  north- 
ern inland  trade  by  facilitating  the  navigation  from  Fort 
Edward  to  Waterford  through  the  Hudson,  by  artificial 
works.  There  arc  several  interruptions  in  the  navigation  of 
this  distance.  It  is  therefore  proposed  to  construct  a  dam 
across  the  Hudson,  at  the  head  of  Fort  Miller  Falls,  and 

*  Vide  Report  of  Commissioners,  Jan.  SI,  1818. 

I  Vide  Report  Canal  Commissioners,  18th  March,  1817V. 


63 

oiii  a  c-anal  round  '(he  Falls,  which  could  be  supplied  wk& 
water  from  the  river  above.  Another  dam  is  to  be  con*- 
structed  across  the  Hudson  at  Saratoga  Falls,  and  another 
at  Stillwater  Falls,  and  canals  cut  round  each  of  these  de- 
scents. Then  a  canal  is  to  be  cut  from  Stillwater  Falls  to 
Waterford,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Hudson  and  the  Mo- 
hawk, which  will  unite  the  Northern  and  Western  Canals. 
The  canal  between  Waterford  and  Stillwater  Falls  will  be 
12  miles  in  length.  A  company  was  incorporated  many 
years  since,  to  opeh  this  canal  navigation  between  the  Hudson 
and  Lake  Champlain  ;  but  they  did  little  more  than  survey 
the  route,  and  ascertain  as  far  as  possible,  the  magnitude  of 
the  undertaking,  Mr.  Gallatin,  in  his  Report  of  1807,  esti^ 
mated  the  distance  between  Waterford  and  Skeensborough  or 
Whitehall,  to  be  fifty  miles,  and  the  expense  of  opening  the 
whole  Champlain  navigation,  at  §800,000.  The  Canal  Com- 
missioners make  the  whole  expense,  including  the  Canal 
from  Moses-Kill  to  Whitehall  before  alluded  to,  at  8871,000. 
The  works  now  contemplated  are  much  bolder  than  those 
which  formed  the  basis  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  estimates. 

Some  reference  to  the  advantages  which  must  result  fVom 
this  connexion  of  the  Hudson  and  the  northern  waters,  may  ses 
here  be  expected. 

The  first  advantage  deserving  notice  will  be  the  diversion 
t)f  a  profitable  trade  from  Quebec  and  Montreal  to  New- 
York  ;  and  the  cities  and  Villages  higher  up  the  Hudson.-*- 
Those  parts  of  Vermont  which  are  situated  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Lower  Canada,  have  heretofore  been  in  the  habit 
of  sustaining  a  commercial  intercourse  of  no  small  impor- 
tance with  the  British  colonists,  owing  to  the  convenience 
and  facilities  of  trade  arising  from  the  contiguity  of  their 
situation.  Trade  must  and  will  be  regulated  by  convenience 
and  profit,  unless  you  interpose  the  arm  of  coercion  or  re- 
striction. It  is  only  by  holding  out  those  inducements  that 
constitute  inclination  and  interest,  that  you  can  expect  to  fr°m  Cana- 
eross  its  ordinary  and  older  channels.  Should  an,  easy,  safe 


chea>)  transportation  be  opened  to  those  parts  of  Ver- 
iiiont  which  border  oa  Lake  Champlain,  and  a  ready  market 
present  itself  within  our  own  limits,  but  little  question  arises 
what  course  their  trade  would  take.  At  least  one  halt*  of 
the  trade  and  profits  which  now  flow  into  Canada,  would  be 
brought  home  to  our  own  state.  Lake  Champla'iri  is  about 
^00  miles  long*  from  north  to  south.  It  receives  half  the 
Streams  that  rise  in  Vermont,  arid  many  which  have  their 
origin  in  Lower  Canada.  The  country  on  its  borders  is  daily 
improving  in  agriculture,  and  increasing  in  population  ;  and 
if  their  trade  is  secured  at  this  early  period  o'f  our  commer- 
cial history,  by  permanent  means,  its  unbroken  continuance 
may  he  relied  upon.  The  effects  of  the  Northern  Canal,  irf 
this  respect*  will  be  immediate.  No'r  is  this  all  ;  the  North- 
ern Canal  will  even  levy  a  contribution  upon  Lower  Canada 
herself.  We  must  recollect  that  lor  about  seven  months 
in  the  year,  the  riter  St.  Lawrence,  through  which  all  the 
trade  of  the  Canadas  passed,  is  frozen  over,  or  so  full  of  ob- 
structions that  navigation  through  its  waters  is  suspended.. 
Thus,  for  more  than  one  half  erf  the  year,  there  would  be  a 
strong  temptation  for  the  people  of  Lower  Canada  to  opeif 
a  trade  with  the  city  of  New-York.  Every  article  of  mer- 
chandize passing  from  this  country  into  Lower  Canada? 
would  yield  a  tax  to  the  National  Government,  and  extend  a 
profit  to  our  own  citizens,  at  the  expense  of  the  consumer  in! 
Canada. 

The  canal,  too,  will  be  of  much  importance  from  the 
trade  in  lumber  and  timber  which  it  will  promote.  These 
articles  are  already  becoming  scarce  in  many  parts  of  our 
country.  Mr.  King,  iu  his  late  speech  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  observes,  that  "  The  timber  of  the  country 
is  becoming  scarce,  and  more  and  more  an  object  of  public 
concern.  The  forests  upon  the  frontier  of  the  Octari,'  and 
on  the  great  rivers  leading  to  it,  are  nearly  destroyed.  Jri 
other  countries,  and  even  in  Ilussia,  the  improvident  waste  of 
their  timber,  especially  in  the  neighborhood  of  their 


65 

iron  works,   has  become  a  subject  of  national  solicitude.—^ 
Masts,  spars,  pine  and  oak  timber  fit  fop  naval  purposes,  and 
for  otber  numerous   uses  for  which  timber  and  wood  are 
wanted,  were  far  more  abundant,  and  of  better  quality  for- 
merly, and  within  the  memory  of  men  now  living,  than  they 
are  at  the  present  day;  and  a  little  care  and  economy  in  the 
use  of  our  timber,  even  now,  would  confer  an  important  ben- 
efit on  posterity."*    If  the  timber  which  covers  the  moun- 
tains and  country  in    the  vicinity  of  Lake  Champlain  and 
Lake  George,  is  not  of  that  valuable  description  for  naval 
purposes  which  is  found  in  the  southern   extremity  of  the 
Union,  and  more  especially  in  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  it  is 
of  much  value  to  a  commercial  people,  and  to  the  towns  and 
cities  on  the  Hudson.     The  Canal  Commissioners  assert  in 
one  of  their  reports,  that  «  within  that  tract  of  country  em- 
bracing the  borders  of  Lake  George,  and  the  timber  land 
north  and  west  of  the  great  Falls  in  Luzerne,  there  are  an- 
nually made  and  transported   to   the   south    2,000,000  of 
boards  and  plank  ;  1,000,000  feet  of  square  timber  consist- 
ing of  oakj  white  and  yellow  pine,   besides  dock  logs,  scant- 
ling, and  other  timber  to  a  great  amount."")*     The  lands  of 
our  own  state,  in  theiviclnity  of  the  contemplated  Canal,  are, 
to  a  considerable  extent,  rough,  unfit  for  a  high  state  of  cul- 
tivation, and  covered   with  an  excellent  growth  of  timber. 
The  increase  in  the  ruluc  of  lands  which  this  canal  would 
produce,  where  they  are  situated  neat  its  line,  should  not  be 
lost  to  our  view  in  the  consideration  of  its  advantages. — 
AVhen  we  recollect  the  rapid  growth  of  the  cities  and  villa- 
ges on  the  Hudson,  and  the  country  beyond  its  tide  waters, 
and  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  new  Canal ;  and  when 
we  also  remember,  that  according  to  the  most  accurate  cal- 
culation, more  than  2000  new  buildings  are  erecting  in  New- 

*  Vide  Speech  of  Hon.  Rufus  King  on  the  Navigation  Act. 
It  is  a  speech  replete  with  intelligence  and  elevated  national 
feelings,  and  worthy  of  this  distinguished  statesman. 

f  Rep.  Canal  Com.  1 8th  March,  1817. 


66 

York  the  present  season,  and  the  timber,  boards,  other 
materials  of  wood,  necessary  to  supply  a  demand  so  great  ; 
and  when  we  look  at  the  demands  for  I  lie  different  kinds  ot" 
timber  to  subserve  mercantile  purposes,  even  in  the  city  of 
New-York  alone  ;  we  cannot  but  think  that  the  lands  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lake  Champlain  and  Lake  George,  and  in  some 
of  our  northern  counties  heretofore  deemed  of  little  value, 
will  now  be  rendered  of  much  pecuniary  consequence  to  their 
proprietors. 

The  establishment  of  the  Naval  Depot  at  Newburg,  on  the 
River  Hudson,  reported  to  have  been  authorised  by  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  Stales,  will  increase  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, the  importance  of  this  canal.  Every  thing  necessary  for 
extensive  ship  building,  which  can  be  found  on 'its  borders, 
or  contiguous  to  the  waters  connected  with  it,  will  find  a 
ready  and  permanent  demand,  at  this  important  post.  It  is 
probable,  from  the  fine  harbor  of  New-York,  and  from  its 
being  in  the  centre  of  the  Union,  that  this  depot  will  be  one 
of  the  largest  in  the  United  States,  and  afford  an  immense 
consumption  of  timber  necessary  for  naval  purposes. 

When  this  Canal  shall  be  opened,  we  believe,  as  the  Com- 
missioners early  perceived,  that  a  trade  of  a  new  character 
will  arise,  between  ourselves  and  the  people  of  the  north- 
westerly parts  of  Vermont.  The  sale  of  pot  and  pearl  ashes 
has  heretofore,  and  will  hereafter  be  a  source  of  profit  to 
this  quarter  of  the  country.  The  transportation  of  these 
heavy  articles  over  a  considerable  distance  by  land,  is  a  great 
drawback  upon  the  profits  which  they  afford.  The  North- 
Pot  and  crn  Canal  must  open  to  them  a  ready  market,  and  an  easy, 
e*.  safe,  and  rapid  conveyance.  These  articles  can  be  exchang- 

ed at  either  extremity  of  the  Canal,  at  Whitehall  or  Water- 
ford,  for  articles  of  merchandize,  or  for  salt  or  gypsum, 
which  will  hereafter  be  brought  down  the  Great  Western 
Canal  in  quantities  sufficient  to  supply  any  consumption. — 
The  salt  works  in  our  western  counties  will  hereafter  be  car- 
ried on  upon  a  large  scale,  and  gypsum  will  be  afforded  at 
S5  per  ton  at  Waterford,  and  perhaps  for  a  less  sum. 


67 

The  greater  part  of  Vermont  is  a  fine' grazing  country  ; 
but  the  expense  of  transportation,  has,  in  a  considerable  de- 
gree, heretofore  prevented  the  cultivators  of  the  soil  from  Po^cf  aild 
selling  beef  and  pork,  or  from  considering  them  important 
ai-ticles  of  trade.  When  this  canal  is  completed,  the  whole 
country  in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Champlain,  will  send  the  ar- 
ticles of  beef  and  pork,  to  the  ready  and  constant  markets, 
which  \ull  be  found  at  Troy,  Albany,  and  more  especially  in 
New- York,  the  great  place  of  exportation. 

The  fine  marble  in  the  state  of  Vermont,  which  lies  in 
vast  quarries  in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Champlain,  and  is  found 
to  possess  the  richest  qualities,  would  find  an  immediate  de- 
mand by  this  improvement  in  our  northern  navigation.  The 
extensive  marble  works  in  the  flourishing  village  of  Middle- 
bury,  a  few  miles  from  Lake  Champlain,  and  situated  on  the 
banks  of  Otter  Creek,  afford  a  sufficient  specimen  of  its  in- 
trinsic properties.  It  is  of  various  hues,  of  a  fine  grain, 
bears  an  exquisite  polish,  and  is  found  to  withstand  the  most 

intense  heat  without  anv  unfavorable  effects.     This  marble 

Marble, 
has  been  worked  for  several   years  past  to  great  advantage 

and  profit,  by  the  MIDDLEBURY  MARBLE  MANUFACTURING 
COMPANY,  and  has  been  sent  in  considerable  quantities  to 
New-York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Montreal,  and  even  so  fat- 
south  as  Georgia.  It  is  used  for  monuments,  and  for  all  the 
ornamental  purposes  of  building.  It  may  hereafter  become 
an  article  of  much  importance. 

The  country  through  which  the  Northern  Canal  must 
pass,  is  said  to  be  stored  with  rich  and  valuable  minerals, 
and  it  is  calculated  that  extensive  iron  works  will  hereafter 
be  erected  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  mountains  near  Lakes 
George  and  Champhtia.  Should  this  be  the  case,  this  coun- 
try, by  means  of  the  canal,  might  become  an  important  place 
for  the  manufacture  of  iron. 

The  Northern  Canal  may  also  produce  many  important 
benefits  in  point  of  national  defence,  in  case  of  future  exi- 
gencies. Naval  and  military  stores,  and  materials  of  every 


68 

description  essential  to  purposes  of  defence,  could  easily  ba 
Pefenct.  distributed  along  this  part  of  our  northern  frontier  with 
ease  and  safety,  thus  sustaining  an  uninterrupted  water  con- 
veyance between  our  seaboard  and  the  Canadian  borders.— 
Had  this  Canal  been  made  previous  to  the  last  war,  the  sav- 
ing of  expense  to  the  nation  would  have  been  of  no  inconsid- 
erable consequence. 

These  are  some  of  the  future  advantages  connected  with 
this  branch  of  our  Internal  Improvements.  Most  of  these 
benefits  have  before  been  suggested  to  the  public,  by  the 
Canal  Commissioners,  and  we  pretend  to  no  merit  in  bring- 
ing them  forward  here  with  our  brief  illustrations.  It  will 
promote  the  interests  of  agriculture,  by  opening  ready  mark- 
ets, and  easy,  cheap,  and  ready  conveyance  $  it  will  promote 
domestic  trade,  by  drawing  articles  of  merchandize  from 
our  own  seaboard,  instead  of  the  Canadian  cities.  It  will 
advance  the  value  of  real  estate,  promote  manufactures,  and 
draw  rich  mineral  treasures  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth. 
It  will  create  new  sources  of  industry,  and  confine  the  pro- 
fits of  our  labor  to  ourselves. 

The  whole  of  the  Northern  Canal  is  under  contract,  and 
it  is  expected  that  one  half  of  the  distance  will  be  completed 
"before  the  approach  of  winter,  if  the  season  continues  favor- 
able.   The  remaining  portion  will  be  advanced  to   a  state  oi' 
completion  with  the  same  energy  that  marks  its  present 
progress.     As  there  are  no  doubts  nor  cavils  concerning  this 
work,  argument  is  unnecessary.     It  is  not  to  be  presumed 
that  the  state  of  New-York,  while  directed  in  the  applica- 
tion of  her  means  by  her  present  Chief  Magistrate,  and 
while  able  to  make  a  Canal  of  353  miles  long,  and  connect 
by  ihe  noblest  work  of  the  age,  the  great  Lakes  and  the 
ocean,  will  permit  a  spot  of  disgrace  to  rest  on  her  character, 
by  not  connecting  the  Hudson  with  Lake  Champlain,  at  a 
trifling  expense,  wheu  her  faith  and  her  resources  are  pledg- 
ed in  the  undertaking. 


MR.  DARBY'S  LETTER. 


[  THE  following  letter,  which  was,  a  few  days  since,  written 
by  WILLIAM  DARBY,  Esq.  in  answer  to  certain  inquiries 
submitted  to  him  by  the  Secretary  of  the  New-York  Cor- 
responding Association,  contains  much  important  infor- 
mation, and  is  subjoined  here,  as  a  valuable  appendage  to 
the  foregoing  pages.] 

NEW-FORK,  October  11, 1818. 
MR.  C.  G.  HAINES, 

Sir — Yours  of  the  25th  ult.  was  duly  received,  but  the 
pressure  of  my  private  business  on  my  return  from  a  tour  of 
nearly  five  months,  prevented  an  earlier  attention  to  join- 
communication.  You  request  my  opinion  in  the  first  instance 
upon— 

•<  What  canals  and  water  communications  could  be  con- 
nected with  the  line  of  the  great  western  canal,  in  our  state, 
for  the  promotion  of  internal  improvements." 

The  most  obvious,  and  by  far  the  most  beneficial  water 
communication  that  can  be  made  between  the  great  west 
era  canal  and  circumjacent  rivers,  is  the  contemplated  canal 
between  the  head  of  Seneca  Lake  and  the  Susquehanna.  If 
the  two  canals  were  now  completed  as  far  as  Seneca  Lake 
and  Cayuga  river,  the  inhabitants  of  Pennsylvania  and  New- 
York  states,  would  exchange  their  heavy  but  invaluable  ar- 
ticles of  coal,  gypsum,  salt,  iron,  pot  metal,  &c. 

Three  obvious  points  of  water  connection,  between  the 
great  western  canal  and  lake  Ontario,  present  themselves — 
by  the  Niagara,  Genesee  and  Osvvego  rivers,  all  of  which 


70 

are  obstructed  by  cataracts  cf  more  or  less  depression  from 
the  lowest  part  of  the  plane  of  the  canal  to  the  surface  of 
the  Jake. 

Before  proceeding  farther  in  this  investigation,  permit  me 
to  make  a  few  geographical  remarks.  The  commercial  fa- 
cilities naturally  existing  between  the  Atlantic  states  and  the 
valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  St.  Lawrence,*  may  be  divi- 
ded into  three  great  divisions  ;  which  we  will  designate  as 
the  Northern,  Middle  and  Southern.  All  that  part  of  the 
continent  of  North  America,  watered  by  the  St.  Lawrence 
river  and  confluent  branches,  to  the  north  of  the  Falls  of 
Niagara,  must  have  a  commercial  outlet  and  inlet  by  that 

great  river,    through   Montreal   and  Quebec South   and 

Southwest  of  the  Rapids  of  Ohio,  at  the  town  of  Louisville, 
the  produce  of  human  industry  will  pass  to  New-Orleans, 
and  the  articles  of  necessity  and  luxury,  not  found  in  the 
country,  will  be  purchased  in  that  city.  Between  the  Chute 
of  Niagara  and  that  of  Louisville,  from  the  Allegany  moun- 
tains to  the  sources  of  the  rivers  of  lake  Superior,  will  form 
the  middle  commercial  district,  and  New- York,  Philadel- 
phia and  Baltimore,  will  divide  the  profits  of  exchange  ; 
Cincinnati,  Pittsburg,  Detroit  and  Buffalo,  will  be  in  the  mid- 
dle, what  Kingston  and  York,  in  Upper  Canada,  will  be  in 
the  northern,  and  what  Louisville,  St.  Louis,  Natches  and 
Natchitoches  will  be  in  the  southern  division.  Partial  inter- 
communications may,  and  no  doubt  will,  daily  occur  in  com- 
mercial exchange  between  the  points  of  contact  of  these 
natural  sections,  but  these  interchanges  must  be  viewed  as 
exceptions  to  a  great  permanent  rule  formed  by  nature  her- 
self. 

In  examining  the  subject  of  any  improvement,  MAN 
ought  to  seek  what  is  practically  useful,  and  not  exhaust  upon 
idle  fanciful  speculation,  what  is  due  to  attainable  objects  of 

*  By  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  St.  Lawrence  are  here 
meant,  all  the  region  watered  by  the  tributary  streams  of  these 
mighty  rivers. 


71 

real  utility.  A  water  route  from  the  Atlantic  ocean  io  tlifc 
immense  wester*  waters,  has  now  arrested  the  attention  of 
the  most  enlightened  citizens  of  New- York  and  Pennsylva- 
nia ;  and  the  subjec t  is  one,  upon  which  the  pens  of  the 
ablest  politicians  or  economists  of  these  great  states,  may 
be  most  beneficially  employed.  It  is  an  object  worthy  the 
deepest  reflection  of  a  public  mind,  at  once  rich  in  experience 
and  strong  in  moral  youth.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  in  the 
developement  of  our  natural  advantages,  local  prejudices, 
party  and  personal  animosities  should  impede  the  progress  of 
rational  research.  It  is  wretched  logic,  to  confound  ques- 
tions of  national  interest,  with  the  trifling  views  of  faction, 
or  the  narrow  conceptions  of  corporation  politics. 

Since  receiving  your  communication,  I  have  met  with  two 
works  on  a  similar  subject  ;  one,  «  A  topographical  descrip- 
tion of  the  province  of  Lower  Canada,  and  on  the  relative 
connexion  of  both  provinces,  with  the  United  States  of 
America."  By  JOSEPH  BOTJCHETTE,  Esq. 

The  other,  "  A  Sketch  of  the  Internal  Improvements  al- 
ready made  by  Pennsylvania  ;  with  observations  upon  her 
physical  and  fiscal  means  for  their  extension  ;  particularly 
as  they  have  reference  to  the  future  growlh  and  prosperity 
of  Philadelphia."  By  SAMUEL  BRECK,  Esq. 

Whoever  reads  attentively  these  two  treatises,  will  I  regret 
to  say,  find  very  nearly  as  much  liberality  from  Mr.  Bou- 
c'hette,  respecting  the  United  States  in  general,  as  from  Mr. 
Breck,  when  contrasting  the  city  of  Philadelphia  with  the 
neighboring  cities  of  New-York  and  Baltimore,  and  partic- 
ularly New-Orleans.  The  latter  writer  indeed  appears  in 
one  point  to  extreme  disadvantage,  he  seems  to  consider 
Pennsylvania  as  an  incidental  or  secondary  object,  when  in- 
cluded in  the  same  prospeet  with  her  commercial  capital  ; 
Mr.  Boucliette,  to  his  credit,  extends  his  views  to  the  causes 
which  may  lead  to  the  aggregate  prosperity  of  all  the  Cana- 
das,  and  does  not  confine  his  anticipations  to  Quebec. 

To  a  reader  unacquainted  uith  the  relative  political  posi- 


18 

tiou  of  affairs  on  this  continent,  both  of  these  writers  would 
appear  to  be  inhabitants  of  countries  environed  with  rival  and 
even  hostile  states.  This  spirit  of  rivalry  is  as  injurious  as 
a  generous  emulation  would  be  beneficial  to  the  progress  of 
improvement.  The  inherent  principles  of  human  nature 
will,  however,  operate,  maugre  all  that  sophistry  can  op^ 
pose  to  their  progress.  Men  will  carry  their  superabun- 
dance to  the  best  markets,  whether  in  New-York,  Philadel- 
phia, Baltimore,  New-Orleans,  or  elsewhere. 

Mr.  Breck,  page  43,  anticipates  the  time  when  the  com- 
merce of  the  waters  of  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi,  be- 
yond the  mouth  of  Ohio,  will  come  to  Philadelphia  ;  in  fine, 
that  an  era  will  arrive  when  human  beings  will  toil  1600 
miles  mostly  up  stream,  to  obtain  a  worse  market  than  they 
could  find  by  floating  down  stream  half  the  distance.  If  this 
prophecy  is  ever  realized,  the  old  proverb,  «  go  farther  and 
fare  worse,"  will  receive  a  very  remarkable  application. 

I  notice  Mr,  Breck's  work  as  it  embodies  much  of  the 
common  place  philosophy  on  the  subject  upon  which  I  am 
now  descanting.  To  consider  that  gained  to  Pennsylvania 
which  is  lost  by  New-York,  or  rice  versa,  is  just  about  as 
correct,  as  it  would  be  for  an  individual  to  desire  a  palace 
for  a  residence  with  mud-walled,  thatched-covered  hovels, 
to  decorate  the  prospect  from  its  portals.  In  fact*  the  ad- 
vance of  any  city  or  state  of  our  common  country  has  a  re- 
flective effect  $  the  science,  wealth,  and  liberal  institutions 
of  any  part*  must  shed  their  kindly  beams  upon  the  whole, 
and  the  illumination  must  be  stronger  in  direct  ratio  to  ap- 
proximation to  the  centre  of  light. 

But  to  return  to  our  subject*  The  relative  territorial  ex- 
tent of  the  three  great  commercial  sections  of  the  central 
parts  of  our  continent,  is  as  nearly  as  I  estimate  them,  a» 

follows  : 

so,.  MILES. 

Yalley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  below  Niagara,      240,000 
Middle  or  central  section,  320,000 

South  and  southwestern  section,  1,200,000 


'  CY  LIBI 

..  ^* 

73 

of  (hose  grand  divisions  have  (heir  appropriate  «d» 
vantages,  which  it  is,  and  wili  continue  to  be  the  duty  of  the 
inhabitants  respectively  to  improve.  Of  the  three,  the 
greatest  number  of  practical  and  indispensable  canals  and 
roads,  can  and  will  be  formed  in  the  middle  or  central  sec- 
tion. Until  the  completion  of  the  great  Western  Canal  be- 
tween the  waters  of  the  River  Hudson,  and  those  of  Lake 
Erie,  that  between  the  Seneca  Lake  and  the  Susquehanna 
river,  and  that  between  the  Hudson  river  and  Lake  Cham*-  • 
plain,  no  others  ought  to  be  ever  seriously  thought  of  by  the 
citizens  of  this  State. 

Your  second  inquiry  is,  "  What  Great  Hoads  could  be 
"  united  to  the  line  of  the  Western  Canal,  in  our  state,  for 
96  the  promotion  of  the  same  object  ?'* 

This  latter  inquisition  would  admit  of  a  much  wider  range 
than  the  former,  if  pursued  in  all  its  details;  there  is 
scarcely  five  miles  upon  the  whole  line  of  the  canal,  from 
which  useful  and  necessary  roads  may  not  be  drawn  5  but  of 
these,  two  obtrude  themselves  to  immediate  notice*  One  to 
the  village  of  Hamilton  upon  the  Allegany  river,  in  Calta- 
raugus  county,  and  the  other  between  the  towns  of  Buffalo 
and  Hamilton.  The  lately  perceived  importance  of  these 
two  latter  places,  has  prevented  their  having  excited  the  in- 
terest they  so  eminently  deserve.  The  proper  point  of  con* 
tact  with  the  canal,  or  its  confluent  waters,  by  the  Hamilton 
road,  is  something  difficult  to  fix  with  precision.  Geneva, 
and  Canandaigua,  present  each  some  respective  advantages 
of  position  when  contrasted  with  each  other  ;  and  have  eith- 
er a  decided  superiority,  as  points  of  departure,  over  any  oth- 
er places  in  this  state.  I  have  visited  both  these  towns,  and 
from  information  there  received,  have  no  doubt  but  that  ex- 
cellent roads  can  be  formed,  from  each  to  Hamilton,  at  no 
extraordinary  expense.  If  I  was  called  upon  to  dictate  a 
plan  upon  this  subject,  I  would  direct  the  formation  of  a 
turnpike  road'froin  both  Geneva  and  Canandaigua,  in  the  di- 
rection towards  Hamilton.  These  roads  should  converge 


somewhere  in  the  northwest  angle  of  Steuben  county,  at  oi1 
near  the  village  of  Dansville,  or  Arkport,  and  run  thence 
to  Hamilton  by  Angelica.  No  roads  that  could  be  possibly 
funned  in  this  state,  in  addition  to  those  already  made,  would 
produce  so  great  and  immediate  benefits,  as  these  I  have 
traced.  If  this  route  was  laid  open  by  good  roads,  it  would, 
even  independent  of  the  Grand  Canal,  become  instanter  the 
thoroughfare  between  the  New-England  States  and  the  Ohio 
Valley.  To  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  extent  and' 
mass  of  the  tide  of  emigration  now  setting  southwest,  and 
annually  increasing,  the  advantages  of  such  a  route  will  be 
apparent.  Much  embarrassment  is  now  experienced  by  em- 
igrants from  Massachusetts, 'New-Hampshire  and  Vermont 
states,  for  the  want  of  a  direct  and  easy  means  of  transpor- 
tation to  Pittsburgh.  No  part  of  the  western  territory  of 
New-York  is  so  thinly  peopled,  as  the  country  included  in 
Steuben,  Allegany  and  Cattaraugus  counties  5  good  roads 
would  tend  greatly  to  encourage  settlement. 

Though  not  equal  in  importance  or  necessity  with  the  roads 
from  Hamilton  to  Cauandaigua  and  Geneva,  yet  a  good  solid 
road  from  Hamilton  to  Buffalo  would  be  of  great  utility  and 
convenience  to  the  people  who  inhabit  the  extreme  western 
section  of  this  state.  In  a  military  point  of  view,  the  latter 
road  would  be  of  incalculable  advantage  in  a  war  with 
Great  Britain,  in  opening  more  extensively  than  at  pre- 
sent exists,  lines  of  ready  communication  with  our  interior 
and  Canadian  frontier. 

It  is  much  to  be  desired,  that  a  good  road  was  also  carried 
from  Hamilton  to  Pittsburg.  In  execution  of  such  a  work, 
the  people  of  New-York  and  those  of  Pennsylvania  ought  to  act 
in  concert ;  both  parties  are  deeply  interested,  though  the  for- 
mer rather  more  than  the  latter,  as  the  country  upon  the  Al- 
legany is  yet  but  thinly  inhabited.  From  the  influence  of 
frost  in  the  winter  and  heat  in  summer,  many  of  our  rivers 
are  rendered  useless  as  channels  of  communications,  often 
Lalf  the  year.  This  is  the  case  with  all  our  interior  streams 


, , 

north  of  Marlyand.  Durable  roads  arc  therefore  as  indis- 
pensable as  canals,  and  in  places  where  heat  may  exhaust  or 
cold  congeal  water,  roads  and  canals  ought  to  be  formed  co- 
existent, and  made  in  their  turn  subservient  to  the  facility 
of  human  intercourse,  and  the  augmentation  of  human  en- 
joyment. 

The  road  from  Utica  to  Sackett's  Harbor,  though  already 
open,  demands  very  extensive  improvements.  1  travelled 
this  route  ia  the  second  week  of  last  May,  and  found  many 
parts  in  a  wretched  state.  The  season  was  indeed  extremely 
inclement — a  time  therefore  that  the  roads  could  not  be  ex- 
pected to  afford  pleasant  travelling — but  if  they  are  well 
formed  and  preserved  with  care,  they  will  at  least  always 
secure  safe  conveyance.  It  would  be  waste  of  time  to  point 
out  the  very  high  importance  of  a  good  road,  solid  at  all 
seasons  of  the  year,  from  the  interior  of  the  state  of  New- 
York,  to  the  most  exposed  and  by  far  the  most  valuable  mil- 
itary and  naval  station  on  our  Canadian  border. 

The  following  are  the  stationary  distances  of  each  of  the 
proposed  roads,  as  near  as  I  have  been  able  to  estimate. — 
The  distance  and  stations  upon  the  road  from  Utica  to  Sack- 
et's  Harbor,  were  taken  from  the  former  to  the  latter  town. 
The  others  are  taken  from  Eddy's  Map  of  New- York,  a  ve 
ry  meritorious  work  lately  published. 

MLLES, 

From  Utica,  over  the  alluvion  of  the  Mohawk 
river,  •  ±  1-2 

Height  of  land  between  the  Mohawk  and  Lake 

Ontario,  3  1-2—5 

Tillage  of  Trenton,  8—13 

Sugar  Creek,  one  of  the  head  branches  of  Black 

River,  23 — 36 

Thus  far  the  road  is  now  tolerable,  but  from  Sugar  Creek 
it  follows,  generally,  the  valley  of  Black  River,  and  is  in  ma- 
ny places  barely  passable,  in  the  spring  season. 


Martinsburg,  seat  of  justice  for  Lewis 

county,  -         -  14  3-4 — 50  3-4r 

Lowville,  -  3  1-2— -5*  1-4 

Beer  River,   a  large  and   impetuous 

branch   of   Black   River a  good 

wooden  bridge  where  the  road  passes,  10 — 64  3--* 

Watertown  on  the  left  bank  of  Black 

River,  »   ,  16—80  3-4 

Brownsville,  right  bank  of  Black  Ri- 
ver, -  -         SJSjjfe*         4—84  3-4 
Sacket's  Harbor,  8—92  3-4 

A  direct  road  runs  from  Watertown  to  Saeket's  Harbor, 
distance.  8  miles,  but  at  the  time  I  travelled  the  country, 
this  latter  road  was  pronounced  impassable.  1  was  therefore 
obliged  to  take  the  more  circuitous  route  by  Brownville,  and 
of  course  Black  River  twice.  Good  bridges  have  been 
ibrmed  over  that  precipitous  stream,  at  AValerlown  and  at 
Brownville, 

Route  from  Geneva  to  Hamilton. 
Height  of  land  between  Canandaigua  and 

Crooked  Lakes,  30 

Arkport,  20—50 

Angelica,  -  20—70 

Hamilton,  30—100 

Intersecting  route  with  the  above, from  Canandaigua. 
Naples,  -  -  20 

Arkport,  -  -.  23—43 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen,  that  the  distance  from 
Geneva  is  100,  and  from  Canandaigua,  93  miles  to  Hamilton. 
The  land  distances  could  be  shortened  by  passing  by  water, 
from  Geneva,  through  the  Seneca  and  Crooked  Lakes,  and 
from  Canandaigua,  by  the  Canandaigua  Lake.  If  the  pro- 
posed roads  were  made,  it  is  probable  they  would  intersect 
near  the  Conhocton  branch  of  Susquchanna,  or  between  the 
Conhocton  and  Arkport.  Diverging  roads  could  be  easily 
formed  from  the  main  lines  to  the  heads  of  Canandaigua, 
Seneca,  and  Crtoked  Lakes,  and  thus  open  still  more  exteu- 


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lively  the  channels  of  transportation  in  a  very  improvable*' 
and  improving  country. 

From  the  head  of  Crooked  Lake  to  Bath  or  (lie  Conhoc- 
ton,  is  only  about  5  miles.  From  Bath,  rafts  and  boats  can 
be  and  have  been  conveyed  down  the  Conhocton  into  the  main 
stream  of  Tioga,  and  finally  into  the  Susquehanna  river. 

Route  from  Hamilton  to  Buffalo. 

MILES. 

Cattaraugus  Creek,  30 

Buffalo,  30—60 

Tin's  distance  is  measured  upon  the  map  direct  ;  it  is  not, 
however,  probable,  that  a  road  could  in  reality  be  made  in 
less  than  70  or  75  miles  between  Buffalo  and  Hamilton.  The 
face  of  the  country  from  the  Allegany  river  to  Cattaraugus 
creek,  and  for  some  considerable  distance  north  of  the  lat- 
ter stream,  rises  into  high  hills.     The  road  would  cross  the 
table  land  between  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  and  those  of  Lake 
Erie.     It  may  not  be  irrelevant  to  remark,  in  this  place,   a 
circumstance  of  considerable  import  in  tSie  investigation  of 
the  subject  of  the  connexion  between  Lake  Erie  and  Ohio 
river.     By  actual  admeasurement,  as  reported  by  Mr.  Gal- 
latin,  Brownsville,  or  rather  the  Monongahela  river  at  that 
town,  is  elevated  850  feet  above  tide  water  in  Chesapeake 
Bay  ;  and  by  careful  measurement  made  in  preparing  for 
the  commencement  of  the  great  western  canal,  the  surface 
of  Lake  Erie  is  elevated  565  feet  above  the  tide  water  in  tie 
Hudson  river  at  the  city  of  Albany.     From  this  data,   the 
Monongahela  at  Brownsville,  is  285  feet  higher  than  the 
surface  of  Lake  Erie.     1  am  well  acquainted  with  the  JVIo- 
nongahela  river  between  Brownsville    and  Pitisburg,   and 
cannot  be  induced  to  consider  the  waterfall  from  the  former 
to  the  latter  place  above  45  or  50  feet  perpendicular ;  which 
estimate,  if  correct,  Mould  yield  a  fall  of  nearly  250  feet 
from  Pittsburg  to  Buffalo.     This  statement  will  be  relieved 
from  all  improbability  by  a  very  cursory  glance  upon  a  map 
of  our  continent.    The  much  greater  distance  from  Pitts- 


p 

burg  to  tide  water  in  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  than  from 
Buffalo  to  tide  water  in  St.  Lawrence  river  will  be  apparent. 
It  has  been  found  from  actual  survey,  as  marked  upon  Ed- 
dy's map  of  Niagara  river,  that  the  difference  of  level  be- 
tween Lake  Erie  and  Ontario  is  334  feet.  Supposing  the 
gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Hudson  river  at  Albany  to  be 
on  a  level,  and  the  difference  cannot  be  considerable,  there 
are  565,  less  33i,  or  231  feet  as  the  fall  of  water  from  tbc 
bottom  of  Lake  Ontario  to  tide  water  in  St.  Lawrence  river  ; 
a  prodigious  depression  for  the  distance,  and  amply  accounts 
for  the  rapidity  of  the  rapids  at  Grand  Gallop,  Point  Iro- 
quois,  Rapid  Plat,  Grand  Saut,  and  St.  Mary's  Rapid  below 
Montreal. 

Assuming  the  above  heights  and  depressions  as  correct, 
there  will  be  about  250  feet  from  any  intervening  point  more 
depression  to  reach  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  than  those  of 
the  Ohio  at  Pittsburg.  The  dividing  ridge  approaches  in 
Cattaragus  county,  near  Portland,  within  less  than  live  miles- 
of  Lake  Erie.  Sailing  along  that  Lake,  within  about  three 
miles  from  the  New-York  shore,  this  ridge  appeared  to  me 
to  be  1000  feet  high  ;  some  of  its  points  I  was  then  led  to 
believe  at  least  200  feet  still  more  elevated  than  the  general 
range  of  the  hills.  About  20  miles  S.  W.  of  Buffalo  this 
ridge  first  appears  distinctly  visible  from  Lake  Erie,  and 
and  continues  in  view  beyond  the  town  Erie,  and  from  thence 
gradually  retires  into  the  state  of  Ohio ;  in  clear  weather  it, 
however,  remains  in  sight  from  the  Lake,  even  opposite  the 
mouth  of  Sandusky  Buy.  Huron  and  Cayahoga  rivers  in- 
dent it)  and  when  opposite  the  mouths  of  these  streams  it 
disappears,  but  in  the  intervening  space  rises  prominent 
above  the  adjacent  country. 

Your  third  and  last  subject  of  inquiry  is,  «  What  advan- 
tage does  New-York  possess  over  New-Orleans,  for  supplying 
the  country,  north-west  of  the  Ohio  river,  with  goods  and 
merchandise  ?" 

To  this  interrogatory,  I  would  answer  briefly,  that  as 


RERKELEY  LIB 


tors  now  stand  it  would  be  nearly,  if  not  altogether 
cheap,  to  ship  goods  and  merchandise  from  the  former,  to 
to  the  latter  city,  and  have  them  thence  transported,  by  Ma- 
ter to  Cincinnati,  or  even  to  Pittshurg,  as  it  would  be  to  con- 
vey (hem  by  the  einbarrasing  land  and  water  routes  now  ex- 
isting between  the  Hudson  and  Ohio  rivers.  The  comple- 
tion of  the  -canal  from  the  Mohawk  to  the  Seneca,  and  a  good 
road  from  thence  to  Hamilton,  would,  if  nothing  else  was 
done,  change  the  face  of  affairs.  New-York  would  then  en- 
joy the  benefits  of  her  nearer  approximation  to  the  water  of 
the  Ohio  ;  she  would  be  enabled  to  counterbalance,  by  her 
existing  capital,  the  superior  local  advantages  of  New-Or- 
leans ;  and  she  would  forever  preserve  her  now  relative  rank 
amongst  the  cities  of  ihe  United  States.  If  a  direct  water 
communication  was  open  with  Lake  Erie,  the  resources  of 
the  state  and  (his  city  would  be  still  more  enlarged.  >Ve 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  undervaluing  the  regions  watered 
by  the  confluent  waters  of  the  Canadian  Lakes.  The  real 
fact  is,  that  in  many  respects  the  countries,  contiguous  to  the 
great  chain  of  interior  seas,  are  superior  to  most  parts  of 
our  continent  of  equal  extent.  The  soil  is  generally  good, 
and  every  where  produce,  in  abundance,  the  Cereal  gramina. 
To  the  west  of  Niagara,  as  far  as  Lake  Superior,  the  cli- 
mate is  mild.  All  the  shores  of  Lakes  Erie  and  Michigan, 
and  great  part  of  those  of  Huron,  will  affords  fine  settle- 
ments. AVith  but  very  few  exceptions  those  regions  are 
healthy  and  supplied  with  excellent  water. 

Let  the  produce  of  their  labour  pass  where  it  may,  the 
number  of  human  beings  that  are  now  daily  passing  Buffalo 
will  soon  dissipate  the  forests  and  supply  their  places  with 
towns,  villages,  farm-houses,  fields,  meadows,  orchards,  and 
gardens.  The  beautiful  and  highly  cultivated  lands  of  the 
strait  of  Erie,  are  now  a  specimen,  of  what  in  forty  years 

will  be  the  landscape  from  Niagara  to  Chicaga. 

It  is  a  very  gratifying  anticipation  to  behold  in  our  fancy, 

the  epoch  to  come,  when  this  augmenting  mass  of  population 


\: 


30 

"rnU  enjoy,  in  the  interior  of  this  vast  continent,  a  ch 
collection  of  immense  marts,  where  the  produce  of  UK 
banks  of  innumerable  rivers  and  Lakes  can  be  cxchauged^ 
on  or  near  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  for  the  con- 
veniences  of  Europe,  and  the  luxuries  of  the  Indies. 

In  the  Edinburgh  Review,  for  June,  1818,  when  speakin< 
of  Mr.  Morris  Birkbeck's  tour  in  America,  and  the  streai 
of  population  passing  from  the  borders  of  the  Atlantic  Oceanj 
into  the  region  we  now  call  relatively  western  :  occurs  this 
remarkable  passage : 

"  Where  is  this  prodigious  increase  of  numbers,  this  vast] 
extension  of  dominion,  to  end  ?  What  bounds  has  nature  set 
to  the  progress   of  this   mighty  najton  ?  Let  our  jealousy 
burn  as  it   may  ;  let  our  intolerance  of  America  be  as  un- 
reasonably violent  as  we  please  ;  still  it  is  plain  that  she  is] 
a  power  in  spite  of  us,  rapidly  rising  to  supremacy  ;  or,  at! 
least,  that  each  jear  so  mightily  augments  her  strength,  as 
to  overtake,  by  a  most  sensible  distance,  even  the  most  for*' 
midable  of  her  competitors.     In  foreign  commerce  she  comes] 
nearer  to  England  than  any  other  maritime  power,  and  al- 
ready her  mercantile  navy  is  within  a  few  thousand  tons  of] 
our  own  !  if  she  goes  on  as  rapidly  for  two  or  three  years, 
she  must  overtake  and  outstrip  us." 

Such  are  the  impressions  already  made  in  Europe  by  out- 
existing  state,  such  the  views  of  our  future  progress  !  The 
bounds  that  nature  may  have  in  preparation,  to  limit  the  pros* 
perity,  wealth,  power  or  science,  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  will  never  be  seen  by  either  you  or  me.  With  senti- 
ments of  sincere  esteem,  I  am,  dear  sir,  yours, 

WILLIAM  DARBY 
GHARLES  G.  HAINES,  Esq."] 

Cor.  Sec'ry.  of  the  Socie-  ' 

ty  for .  the  Promotion   off 

Internal  Improvements.    J 


l-M 


\ 


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